A selfless Mandurah volunteer is handing over the presidency reins of a vital service provided at the Peel Health Campus.
Maria Neave has been the president of the Friends of the Hospital group for the last four years, but has recently taken a step back.
The 140-strong volunteer group raise funds for the hospital through kiosk sales, drive renal patients to and from the Peel Health Campus for treatment and accompany patients through the wards.
The volunteers also provide information, directions and support, while they make comfort packs for patients too.
Ms Neave has been described by her peers as a “kind, caring, loving and unselfish person” and will remain a volunteer.
The Mandurah grandmother has twice been a patient at PHC in recent years and her husband and mother have also used the hospital services.
“All the volunteers are here at the hospital because they really want to be here and they all do the job with a smile on their face,” Ms Neave said.
PHC chief executive Dr Margaret Sturdy thanked Ms Neave for her term as president and welcomed her successor Denise Rouse - known to everyone as “Dee”.
“Maria is a lovely, generous spirited person who is always a joy to be around,” she said.
“Maria is very comfortable that she is handing the ‘Friends’ over to a very capable successor.”
In recent years the volunteer group have funded wheelchairs, beds, simulation mannequins and more recently a $10,000 coffee machine for the oncology and haematology service.
One patient who is benefiting from the new coffee machine is Riverside Gardens resident Rhonda Moroney.
Ms Moroney has been undergoing chemotherapy at PHC after being diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year.
“I have really enjoyed being able to have a coffee while I am confined to the oncology and haematology unit,” she said.
