Every Wednesday morning, Betty McBride can be found at the post-operative information desk at Centenary Hospital in Scarborough, where she鈥檚 been volunteering for 50 years.
McBride is Centenary鈥檚 longest-serving volunteer 鈥 a friendly face for families waiting while their children undergo surgery, as she helps connect parents with medical staff and guides them to recovery rooms when the procedures are done.
Her 50 years of service were recently recognized during Scarborough Health Network’s annual volunteer appreciation dinner in May. 鈥淚 see doctors that have retired come back and I鈥檓 thinking, 鈥榦h, my god, I鈥檓 still here,鈥欌 she joked.
McBride began volunteering at Centenary in the early ‘70s after her youngest started school.聽A stay-at-home mother of five, she said she wanted to “get out of the house and be with other people.”
She began as a hostess in the maternal newborn unit, asking parents if they wanted photos with their babies after delivery, and accompanying mothers and their babies out to their cars at the end of their stay.聽
McBride also did a stint in the emergency department, but has spent most of her time on the post-operative information desk, which she says has been “a very busy place to work.”
Now 88, McBride said one of the most enjoyable aspects of volunteering at the hospital has been the people she’s encountered. “I’ve worked with a lot of amazing doctors at Centenary, and the nurses in the recovery room are just fantastic with the children,” she said.
Volunteering is something McBride did with her husband, Ernie, who died last year. He volunteered in the cardiac rehab department, and he himself was a heart attack survivor.
Betty McBride and her late husband, Ernie, volunteered at Centenary Hospital together, but in different roles.
Montana TohmErnie “would walk around with the patients and talk to them and make them feel better, because they’ve just had their heart attack, and (he) could say ‘well, look what I’m doing,’” she explained. “He enjoyed it.”
Outside of her decades of service, as a lifelong Scarborough resident, McBride has deep ties to the hospital. She said her mother was the 68th patient at Centenary after it opened, and anytime she went in for care, that was the number assigned to her.
McBride has had family members die and multiple grandchildren born in Centenary, and it’s where her husband went for his own cardiac care. “It’s just a fantastic hospital as far as I’m concerned,” she said.
Florence Gilbert (Edebiri), manager of Scarborough Health Network’s volunteer services program, said McBride is “a welcoming face for parents when they come in a stressful time with their children,” adding that her presence is “really reassuring.”
She told the Star she makes an effort to pay McBride a visit when she’s at Centenary. “She always has an encouraging word,” and her 50-year commitment acts as inspiration for other volunteers. “We are always happy to know that we have a reliable volunteer at that post-op desk every Wednesday,” she said.
Gilbert (Edebiri) said Scarborough Health Network is grateful for McBride and its other long-serving volunteers, especially because “many organizations are struggling to find committed and dedicated volunteers.” (Gilbert (Edebiri) uses both her maiden name, Gilbert, and married name.)
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scarborough Health Network had more than 2,200 volunteers across its sites. With that number now sitting at 1,050, Gilbert (Edebiri) said the network is always looking .
“To have volunteers who have given 50 years and continue to show up and give, have a smile on their face and be ready to support the community, that says a lot about the volunteers’ commitment to serving and giving back,” she said.
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