Newswise — LOS ANGELES (April 21, 2025) — Throughout Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 21-27, Cedars-Sinai is saluting its many outstanding volunteers and looking to add a few more to the corps.
New volunteers are always welcome and needed, said Michele Prince, director of Volunteer Services for Cedars-Sinai.
“Last year, volunteers donated more than 200,000 hours of service,” Prince said. “Along with providing emotional support to our patients, visitors, and staff, they are often an extra set of hands for our busy clinicians, saving them time to do higher-level clinical tasks.”
Jody Simon and Stuart Smith are two of the medical center’s 3,600 volunteers. They both say they receive far more than they give.
Simon began her volunteer service at the medical center’s flower delivery desk 10 years ago. During her three-hour shifts, she helped manage the intake of all manner of bouquets—flowers, fruit and balloons—that friends and family sent to patients.
“It was so busy, it would take three of us to handle the desk and deliveries to patient rooms,” said Simon.
Since then, she’s juggled a wide range of duties, alternating between the Beverlywood main campus and Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. Some days, Simon calls patients to confirm appointments. Other days, she serves as the legally mandated layperson on the Institutional Review Board to make sure patients participating in clinical trials are fully consented.
Her favorite volunteer post? The Emergency Department. There, she admittedly encounters fewer smiles than at other posts, but relishes the same patient gratitude for having offered a sympathetic ear, a status update or the occasional cup of water and blanket. Her bedside manner brings such comfort and positivity to patients that she earned a Circle of Friends pin—one of Cedars-Sinai’s highest honors–after an anonymous patient donated in her honor.
“It’s my most prized possession and I wear it proudly,” said Simon.
She recalls the day a simple gesture brought one emergency patient to tears. “I wrapped a blanket around her as she awaited treatment, and she started to cry,” Simon said.“ She said, ‘I’m a single mom. No one ever takes care of me. Thank you.’”
Cedars-Sinai also holds a special place in Simon’s heart for personal reasons. Both she and her mother were born at the former Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. All three of her children were born at Cedars-Sinai, and her aunt and grandmother both have ties to the medical center, dating back the late 1970s.
Stuart Smith’s history with Cedars-Sinai also could fill the pages of a book. Until this past February, and for more than 42 years before that, he worked as a Cedars-Sinai microbiologist in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. His meticulous work focused on identifying bacteria growing in clinical patient cultures, and helped determine the appropriate antibiotics to treat infections. Smith, a clinical laboratory scientist, was on the frontline in the Microbiology lab during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, often requiring 12- and 13-hour days.
Over the years, Smith volunteered to play piano every Tuesday during his lunch break—standards and show tunes, mostly—for visitors in the Plaza Lobby. His shy personality meant he appreciated any recognition, but was challenged by it.
“I never wanted to be the center of attention,” said Smith. “It always made me very self-conscious when people would clap or acknowledge me because I then realized, they’re actually listening to me.”
Smith knows that music can offer comfort during difficult times. Once, as he played, a visitor passing through the lobby paused to listen, clearly touched by the melody. Smith later learned the song had been a favorite of the man’s mother—a song he hadn’t heard since before she’d passed away. “That was really moving for me,” he said.
Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: A Tale of Two Cedars-Sinai Volunteers
