Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital Honors Volunteers

Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital announced today that hospital volunteer Leslie Mutz has been awarded the Pauline C. Christie award and volunteer Madeleine Bronson Dugan has been honored as an “I Care Award” recipient from Lake County Cares. 

“We are honored to recognize these two individuals for their longstanding dedication to our patients,” said Thomas J. McAfee, president of Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital. “Through their warmth and empathy for our patients and their families, Les and Maddie illustrate the value of volunteerism and exemplify the hospital’s commitment to quality and compassionate care.”

Mutz, of Vernon Hills, received the 2013 Pauline C. Christie award at a hospital luncheon for volunteers today. The annual award was started 25 years ago by the Women’s Board in honor of Pauline C. Christie, a past president of the Women’s Board who began her work with the hospital in the 1950s. The Pauline C. Christie awards stand as a symbol of community members coming together to give back to their local hospital.

Mutz has volunteered a total of 1,310 hours since starting as a volunteer in August 2008, assisting the hospital in several capacities.  He has served as a greeter in registration and at the visitor entrance. He has circulated the courtesy beverage cart to waiting areas of the hospital and has assisted in numerous disaster drills as a volunteer. He also volunteers in the surgery waiting room to connect families to the surgeon after surgery.    

“I wanted to volunteer in the neighborhood after retiring and have found a great group of volunteers and staff at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital helping the public here at the hospital,” Mutz said.

Also recognized for service to the hospital was Madeleine Bronson Dugan of Lake Forest, who is a recipient of the Lake County Cares “I Care Award.”  The “I Care Awards” are sponsored by Lake County Cares, an organization that matches  volunteers with local organizations. The awards honored 12 local individuals this year for their exceptional commitment to volunteerism.

Dugan is the great-granddaughter of Mrs. A.B. Dick, who donated the original 23 acres of land upon which the current hospital sits. Carrying on the deep ties between the Dick family and the hospital, Dugan has given more than four  decades of her life in service to Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital as a volunteer and member of the Women’s Board. Dugan joined the Women’s Board in 1977 and for 36 years has contributed to the board’s mission of supporting the hospital through fundraising, volunteerism, and advocacy.  She twice chaired the very popular Holiday Boutique and the Annual Benefit and for many years chaired the Women’s Board Annual Baby Alumni Party.

Dugan has logged an incredible 12,771 hours in volunteering for the hospital, just in the time period in which volunteering records have been kept.  She began her volunteer service in 1965 as a candy striper in the hospital coffee shop. She volunteered in the Trading Post Gift Shop for 16 years, and from 1994-1999 was chairman of the Gift Shop.  

Additionally, Dugan was a chair of the hospital Coffee Shop and Decorating committees and served on the Volunteer committee for many years.  She currently serves as a greeter at the hospital’s Hunter Family Center for Women’s Health reception desk and serves on the Scholarship committee of the Women's Board, where she helps award the A.B. Dick, Jr. scholarship, the Helen Dick Bronson scholarship, the Marion Warner Hodgkins scholarship and the Christina Schulte Fisher scholarship.

Dugan’s love of the hospital, attention to detail and genuine care for the  community are evident in the hours – and years – she has devoted.  Her dedication has touched the lives of countless patients and visitors in the hospital. 

"I am very honored to be able to carry on the legacy of contributing to the medical needs of our community that my family started over 70 years ago,” Dugan said. “As I look forward, it is very exciting to be part of the next generation of health care in Lake County that our affiliation with Northwestern Memorial Health Care is affording us. I really have received as much as I have given during my years of service to Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital.”

NLFH benefits from the dedicated service of 429 volunteers. In 2012 alone, volunteers donated 22,076 hours of service. Since 1951, hospital volunteers have logged 619,885 total service hours. Visit www.lfh.org/volunteer
to learn more about volunteering at Northwestern Lake Forest.