Making Rounds
Volunteers warm hearts in Cancer Center and beyond
It’s probably Cathy Wilt’s face that comforts people right away. It’s a friendly face, punctuated by a warm smile and twinkling eyes, readily offering a measure of calm for a patient coping with a daunting diagnosis. Or just as readily offering support for that patient’s loved ones.
Wilt is a volunteer at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center’s Cancer Treatment & CyberKnife Center. She’s one of the center’s “Pink Ladies,” a term coined when the Fayetteville Woman’s Club first sponsored a volunteer auxiliary for the then-new Cape Fear Valley Hospital. The auxiliary’s first meeting was Aug. 14, 1956, just two months after the hospital opened.
“Have the ability to put yourself in the place of another, to feel his anxiety, share his joy or sorrow,” the auxiliary’s first president, Ann Corders, was quoted as saying at that first meeting. “And so approach each patient in such a kindly, courteous manner that the word hospital becomes synonymous with the word hospitable.”
Pink Ladies has been an endearing and long-used term, and their bright fuchsia-hued blouses help make them immediately recognizable. But it’s a term that could seem a bit old-fashioned considering the significant work being done by the health system’s team of volunteers — made up of diverse men and women who have varied and impressive backgrounds. They help throughout Cape Fear Valley Health in a variety of areas, including pediatrics, behavioral health and the Blood Donor Center.
“Our volunteers are incredibly special because they truly want to make a difference ... and they want nothing in return except to do good for someone else.”
“Our volunteers are incredibly special because they truly want to make a difference, and they’re very passionate about what they do,” said Pat Beasley, Director of Volunteer Services for the system. “And they want nothing in return except to do good for someone else. They’re very loyal and they’ll do anything we ask of them. They make a huge impact on patients and on our employees.”
“I am in awe of them,” she said. “And of their huge, giving hearts.”
Wilt, who seems to epitomize the attributes the first long-ago auxiliary had in mind, began volunteering after a 31-year career with the U.S. Army, the last 21 of which she was a civilian contracting officer. She and her husband Cecil, a retired Army aviator, had planned to spend their time traveling.
“For a while, that was OK,” she said. “But then I thought, I’ve got to do something else.”
She started as a hospice volunteer but then heard that the Cancer Center needed help. That struck a chord with her. Her mother, stepfather and brother, who was her only sibling, all died from cancer. She herself is a cancer survivor, having undergone treatment for endometrial cancer after being diagnosed in 2011. That experience, along with a listening ear and that comforting smile, enables her to hand out a heaping helping of empathy along with the popular oatmeal raisin cookies that many patients love.
At the Cancer Center, volunteers operate the Oasis Café to the right of the entrance. They stock comforting snacks such as crackers, cookies and bananas and offer them to patients and caregivers.
“Sometimes, you know, the patients are getting the care they need, but a lot of times it’s the caregiver who really needs someone to talk to,” Wilt said.
Quite often, volunteers say they feel as if they receive as much in return as they give. Certainly, that was the case when Cecil Wilt died in 2019 after a brief illness. The Wilts had been married 54 years.
“He was the love of my life,” Cathy Wilt said. “When he first passed away, volunteering was a lifesaver for me. It really was. I have to say that the Cancer Center is my passion.”
That passion has led her to expand her service. She volunteers at the Cancer Center on Tuesday afternoons, with the human resources office on Thursday mornings, and with hospice patients on Fridays. She also serves the vital position of treasurer for the volunteer auxiliary board, keeping track of the funds the volunteers help raise for equipment, projects and building expansions.
“She wears many hats,” Beasley said. “She’s very detail-oriented and has the auxiliary on a great path. She keeps us all straight too.”
Beasley said the Cancer Center and other areas are always seeking to add more volunteers to their roster.
