For a couple decades, Kitty Cole has volunteered throughout Clark County.

She’s worked with Comprehensive Care. She’s worked with Hospice. For the last eight years, she’s been one of the cadre of volunteers at Clark Regional Medical Center.

“I just enjoy volunteering,” she said. “I just thoroughly enjoy it.”

The longtime Trapp resident said she was looking for something to do after the last of her seven children reached school age. She spent several years working in cafeterias at Rockwell and Sylvania, she said, fueled by her love of cooking.

“After my kids got in school, I didn’t have a lot to do,” she said.

Working with health-related agencies gives her the opportunity to help people when they may need it most, she said.

“I think everyone has been through trials,” she said. “I try to help, hold your hand out. Sometimes all it takes is a handshake and a welcome as they come in the door.”

Until recently, Cole helped staff the hospital’s front desk a couple days a week. Recently, she switched to the hospital gift shop to accommodate family situations, she said.

Volunteering filled another void after Herman, her husband of 56 years, passed away in 2010.

“Volunteering has been an outlet for me,” she said. “You get to meet a lot of people when you volunteer, and meet a lot of nice people.”

When she volunteered with hospice, she would spend time with the patients to allow the main caregivers a break or to get out of the house for a little while. Those visits, she said, were in the patients’ homes and could entail a variety of activities.

“I’d do the dishes or whatever I felt like,” she said, to help the family. “Mainly, I’d go sit with the patient. I’d just listen. When they had to talk, I’d listen.”

The common denominator in her experiences has been trying to help others, whether working with people at the hospital’s front desk or talking with patients at Comp Care.

“Everything I do, I learn something,” she said.

There is room for more volunteers at CRMC, she said.

“The hospital is expanding and there; going to be a lot of places for volunteers,” she said. “I enjoy it thoroughly.”

To find out more, ask at the hospital front desk.