Behind the Mask: Director of volunteer services enjoys researching family history
Becky Biddle serves as director of volunteer services at Washington Health System.
Volunteers, Biddle said, are a vital part of making the hospital run smoothly, and she is grateful for their contributions.
“Throughout my working career, I’ve worked with and alongside volunteers. I know how I want to be engaged, and hopefully we help our volunteers to be engaged,” said Biddle. “Everyone has their own reasons why they want to come in and help, and you have to foster that. There a lots of opportunities for folks to be involved and to give back.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, WHS had about 300 volunteers who donated about 65,000 hours of clinical and nonclinical service.
Among their roles are manning information desks, entering data, working in the gift shop and serving as liaisons to make patients and their families feel more comfortable.
When the pandemic forced the hospital to temporarily halt the volunteer program in the spring, Biddle worked to keep the gift shop open for staff, patients and visitors.
To do that, she learned how the gift shop operates.
“New duties included learning the entire gift shop operation. I can tell you, the gift shop is very labor intensive, from ordering, labeling, stocking, selling and financial reporting,” Biddle said.
She also continued to run the volunteer office, fielding phone calls from volunteers and people who wanted to volunteer, scheduling interviews, reaching out to vendors and other tasks.
She now is managing a new volunteer venture: having a permanent greeter at Washington Hospital and WHS Greene seven days a week, 12½ hours a day.
Biddle is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a lineage-based service organization for women who are direct descendants of a soldier or other person involved in the United States’ efforts toward independence.
A genealogy buff, she discovered her family tree includes 10 people who served in the American Revolution.
“I am often in awe of the hardships they faced and persevered through. I think the quote is, ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants,’ and I am grateful for their lives and experiences,” said Biddle.
She has enjoyed the research, and acknowledged the challenges.
“It has been an adventure. Imagine trying to get a birth certificate from 1799,” she said, laughing.
She and her husband, Dan, have one dog and two cats, all rescue pets.
“I believe in second chances,” said Biddle.
Q.If you could spend the whole day with one person, who would it be and why?
A. If this could be true, I’d have to expand it to my family that is no longer here. There are so many questions as you get older that you’d like to know, but my family isn’t here anymore.
Q. What’s your best childhood memory?
A. Long, hot summer days bicycling with my friends from dawn to dusk. The biggest worry was about getting home before the conch shell blew … literally!
Q. What do you love about your current job?
A. It is a very busy hospital and I learn new things each week. That pace of change keeps me on my toes and learning. I also like the interaction I have with patients, staff and our volunteers. The volunteers have a rich history of their own. Everyone has a story if you just take the time to listen.
Q. What is something you wish you learned earlier in life, or could learn now but just never got around to it?
A. My siblings and I grew up with music. One of my brothers is a professional musician and composer, and has played on Broadway for years. At four, I started to learn piano, sitting on phone books to raise me up to the keyboard. I fought those lessons every week for seven years. Maybe that’s part of why I am tenacious! However, in hindsight, I wish I would not have resisted so much and continued. Maybe I’ll do that again when I have time.
Q. When you go out to a restaurant, do you always order the same thing, or do you try new items?
A. Life is an adventure – go for new things and exciting experiences!
Q. What do you want people to know about COVID-19?
A. There have been so many changes to keep the patients, visitors and staff as safe as possible. Wearing masks, installing protective barriers and limiting visitors are all steps the hospital has taken to keep the community safe. While no one likes these new measures, we are all in this together. The goal is to all end this together.