SALEM — For nearly three decades, patients and hospital visitors were greeted by Jane Sarnowski and an army of other longtime volunteers who clocked thousands of hours working in the Shaughnessy-Kaplan Rehabilitation Hospital gift shop.
"I just loved meeting people," said Sarnowski, who volunteered 4,342 hours over the years at the Dove Gift Shop in the hospital. "And it was an experience like running your own business."
So when the hospital announced it was closing the shop, administrators feared they would lose the crew of devoted women. Most have stayed, however, and accepted new volunteer posts within the hospital.
"We were shocked because it happened so quick," Sarnowki said. But she didn't think of leaving for a second. "There is a lot of satisfaction in being a volunteer, and you meet all these wonderful people from Shaughnessy."
Changes are afoot at the hospital, where a major renovation to the lobby is wrapping up and a new café is under construction to replace the old gift shop, which had been there since the early 1980s. The hospital also completed a five-year renovation of all the patient rooms and nurse stations. Now, plans are underway for a new garden, according to Julie Voegelin, director of program development.
The $150,000 lobby renovation included new floors, furniture, wall coverings, artwork, bathrooms and a huge, bubbly tank filled with brightly colored fish.
"The whole purpose was to make it more customer-friendly," Voegelin said, "and really to create a more pleasant environment."
There is no café or restaurant at Shaughnessy-Kaplan now, so patients, families and hospital employees have to go to the Salem Hospital cafeteria or order takeout food. Meanwhile, the demand for a gift shop had waned.
"Really, the times have changed," Voegelin said. "More visitors were interested in being able to have a convenient meal and a cup of coffee."
The café will also sell cards, flowers and magazines.
Sarnowski, a lifelong Salem resident, now enjoys volunteering in the hospital's rehab medicine therapy office. She first joined the hospital's ladies auxiliary in the late 1970s, after her husband died.
"Every hospital had an auxiliary that raised funds," she said. "We had a wonderful one — we had so many good times."
She worked in the gift shop for five hours every Wednesday for more than 25 years, and she is also on the board at the Salem Council on Aging, because, "in giving you receive — that's what I've always said."
Shaughnessy-Kaplan is a 160-bed facility founded in 1975 by doctors Israel Kaplan and J. Robert Shaughnessy, whose portraits now hang side by side in the new lobby. Capital funds and donations paid for the renovations, including a $100,000 donation from the Knights of Pythias in Lynn, according to Voegelin.
Morrison Healthcare Food Service, which is the new food vendor for North Shore Medical Center, will run the café. As for the gift shop merchandise, the hospital held a clearance sale, and CEO Maureen Banks then donated most of the remaining items during a humanitarian mission to Cuba a few months ago, according to Voegelin.
The hospital held a recent celebration for its gift shop volunteers at the Hawthorne Hotel. The other volunteers, listed here with the number of hours they dedicated over the years, are: Salem residents Yvette Ouellette (11,000), Barbara Dee (1,062), Lucille Provost (191), Alice L'Heureux (2,827) and Ashley Gonzalez (189); Peabody residents Alice Tracchia (147) and Nicole Goggin (118); Carolyn Bisegna, manager (1,275), of Beverly; Arlene Noonan (618) of Swampscott; Debbie Chloodian (1,320) of Lynn and Pat Martin (958) of Saugus.
Want to volunteer?
Anyone interested in volunteering at Shaughnessy-Kaplan may contact volunteer coordinator Judy Soroko at 978-825-8515.
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