Hoffman receives Volunteer of Year for Countryside work

FREMONT – Dean Hoffman, a longtime volunteer at Countryside Continuing Care Center, received the 2015 Volunteer of the Year award at the Ohio Health Care Association awards luncheon April 29.

Hoffman volunteers at the center about 30 hours every week.

“Dean has been a great asset,” said activity coordinator Kellie Poole. “He works in the therapy department, transferring patients. He helps with whatever they need. He even goes up to the dining room and eats meals with the residents.”

Hoffman, 78, began volunteering at Countryside after his wife died in 2010. He had become familiar with the staff during his wife’s stays at the center.

“My wife was here four times in nine years,” he said. “She was in a different nursing home, and she always wanted to come here because she got great care. One aide would tuck her in every night, kiss her, and tell her I love you.”

Hoffman said he and his wife did “everything together” when she was alive, and he felt her loss deeply when she died.

“She passed away in July, and I came out here in February,” he said. “For six months, I grieved. My faith, family and friends helped me get over it, and they helped me here, too. This gave me something to look forward to.”

Hoffman said he inherited a strong work ethic from his father, and he applies those values to his volunteer duties at Countryside. He even calls his time there “my work.”

“My dad taught me to respect people. He told me if you treat people the way you want to be treated, they’ll treat you like that. What goes around, comes around. It has worked that way all my life,” he said.

The only time Hoffman took any extended time off from his volunteer work was when he had open heart surgery last November. He stayed at Countryside as a patient for 11 days before going home to recover, but he still stopped by to visit while he was recuperating. He returned to his volunteer duties as soon as he could.

“I was bad at home. I started climbing the walls. I was used to working every day,” he said.

His dedication to his volunteer work is strong. After hearing he had won the Volunteer of the Year award, his first concern was that he would have to miss a day at Countryside to attend the ceremony.

“They told me ‘You don’t have to worry about missing work, because it’s on a Tuesday,’ ” he said. “I don’t like missing work. I guess it’s the way I was raised.”

Hoffman was chosen from several dozen nominees and presented with the award at a luncheon at the Columbus Convention Center. At the presentation, he spoke about his work in front of a large crowd.

“It was a big deal. I didn’t know there was going to be 1,200 people there,” he said. “I chose to speak at it, because I wanted to tell them I enjoy working here. I wanted to put a plug in for Countryside and the therapy department.”

Hoffman said the Countryside employees keep him volunteering each week.

“It’s the staff and therapy department — that’s why I volunteer,” he said. “I told them this award is for them, too. Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Physical therapist assistant Julie Garlock said Hoffman transfers patients, cleans the entire gym, washes dishes and even bakes cakes for the staff.

“He does everything. We’d be lost without him. He’s become a part of our lives,” Garlock said. “He says he can’t sleep some nights because he’s so excited about coming to therapy. He so deserved that award.”

Hoffman may not get paid for his work, but he did get a raise. After a patient died, he received a letter from her daughter thanking him for making her mother’s last days so enjoyable. She told him he could never know how many lives he has touched.

“That was my raise there — getting that letter,” he said.