In The Media

In a year when service organizations saw state-funding cuts and dwindling grant support, individual volunteers soldiered on to continue the work they believe in for the benefit of the community.

Whether it was part-time volunteer work or full-time callings, these three individuals worked tirelessly in 2011 to better the lives of their fellow county residents. They encourage others to do the same, no matter how small the commitment.

The singing nurse

After raising three children, riding a horse from Florida to Pennsylvania, and surviving breast cancer, Jeanne Byron still felt there was something missing in her life.

She had long been drawn to hospice care but was afraid to leave a steady job at the VA Outpatient Clinic. Her children, Meredith, Margaret, and Veronica, were grown, and she knew that a steady pension and benefits would be waiting for her in retirement. A 2007 breast-cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment changed that.

“I had breast reconstruction surgery and home-health nurses came to see me while I was recovering,” she says. “I had always felt a pull toward hospice, but never had guts to apply.”

The nurses who visited Byron postsurgerically told her about an opening at Home Nursing Agency and, after weighing her options, she decided to apply. She was hesitant to leave a steady government-funded job but felt that working in home-based care was a calling from a higher power.

She interviewed for and received a position as a hospice RN case manager. Though she took salary and pension cuts to fill the position, she says she’s never felt happier or more fulfilled at work.

“I come home exhausted every day, but I wake up renewed every morning to do it again,” she says. “I enjoy days off, but when that time is done I’m ready to go back and check on my patients and see how they’re doing.”

On a typical day, Byron, 55, will make in-home visits to check in with patients and their families and assess the levels of care they’re receiving from the agency. She’ll determine whether the frequency visits by home-health aides needs be increased or decreased, or whether new medications might need to be prescribed by a patient’s doctor.

She’s also become known as the “singing hospice nurse,” using her vocal abilities to soothe and comfort patients. Byron grew up in a musical family but never performed until she was talking with a family about what she could do to comfort a patient and they asked if she knew any hymns. It just so happened she did. Now, she’ll offer to sing religious or secular songs to each of her patients.

“Music touches a part of the soul that nothing else reaches,” she says. “I’ve had patients who were nonverbal for a long time start to sing with me … it makes for a very strong connection.”

Larry Jump was one of the people touched by Byron’s care. He sought hospice care for his wife, Nancy, during the last few weeks of her battle with cancer earlier this year. Though Byron was with the family for only about two weeks in early April, she made a strong and lasting impact that Jump says he’ll never forget.

“Two weeks before my wife died, there was no indication that she was going to pass so quickly,” he says. “Her doctor recommended hospice care and I’m very glad we made that choice. Jeanne’s advice was always spot on.”

One of Nancy’s dying wishes was to see their daughter, Kaile, graduate from high school. Byron knew she wouldn’t live long enough to see the ceremony in June, so she worked with Larry to organize a commencement ceremony at their Port Matilda home that included members of the State College Area school board.

Byron also came to the Jumps’ home the night Nancy passed away, even though she was not on duty.

Though she typically sees people at the end of their lives, Byron takes comfort in knowing that she can help make the last few days or weeks as peaceful as possible for her patients, something she says was lost as hospital and nursing-home care rose in the US.

“Families used to live together and care for each other, and death was as much part of life as birth, now that care is done in hospitals and nursing homes,” she says. “I tell people that I compare myself to a labor and delivery nurse on the other end of life.”

Making it happen in Mountain Top

Cathy Dittman grew up in State College and spent much of her adult life in North Carolina, but found herself called to Centre County’s northern region. Since 2007, she has worked to bring services to the Mountain Top area, which includes the borough of Snow Shoe and surrounding townships.

Dittman, 54, is a leader of the group forming the Mountain Top Activity Center (MTAC), which will add a fitness facility, library, and computer lab to the region — all things it currently lacks. She sees the center serving everyone from children to senior citizens.

She also is pastor of four churches in the Mountain Top region; the MTAC idea started at informal gatherings after a women’s Bible-study group she led. The group realized the need for a place where the community could gather, especially during the winter.

“The Mountain Top region is geographically segregated from the rest of Centre County, especially in winter,” she says. “We want to see options other than riding four wheelers on the road in Snow Shoe, and other means of getting in trouble for our young people — we want to provide educational and fitness opportunities.”

The center will be located in a building formerly owned by the Bald Eagle Area School District. MTAC volunteers began work in 2008 and have completed repairs to remove asbestos, upgrade the electrical system, and install water and sewer lines. It holds workdays during the fall, spring, and summer to do smaller repairs that help costs.

The group also holds fundraisers each month and is currently seeking money to complete heating and air-conditioning work in the building so interior work can continue this winter. Dittman says finding consistent funding sources has been the biggest challenge thus far.

“We began to write grants and look for funding in 2008, and we found some but then our economy started to go downhill and we had more and more challenges,” she says. “But, we will never give up, even if it takes us years, we are dedicated to doing something for our community.”

Though a definite opening date for the activity center has not yet been set, Dittman says it will be dedicated to US veterans when it opens. Her son, Jarod, was killed while serving on border patrol in 2008 along the US/Mexican border. His memory is a large factor in Dittman’s drive to see the project through, no matter how long it takes.

MTAC secretary Stephanie Cramer says Dittman has helped keep the group motivated through the frustrating moments when funding falls through or the group faces other setbacks.

“Cathy always sees the silver lining of every cloud,” she says. “She keeps us grounded and focused, doesn’t let us get too discouraged. She’ll go out of her way to make sure that everyone has their needs.”

When Dittman is not at her full-time job at Penn State, running her churches, or working on MTAC duties, she enjoys spending time with her children, Alexis and Adam. She’s able to do it all, plus an hour-and-45-minute round-trip commute each day, with the support of the MTAC board.

“Somehow it all seems to balance out,” she says. “I have a boss at Penn State who is very flexible and has been very supportive of me, and — I cannot stress this enough — it is the board members who run MTAC. Without them, I couldn’t do anything.”

Staying active in retirement

Each year, Centre County’s senior citizens log more than 60,000 volunteer hours through the county’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Ben Malone is one of those volunteers.

On any given day, you might find him writing to third and fourth graders in the Bald Eagle Area School District, delivering Meals on Wheels, or helping the Bellefonte Borough collect tax revenue.

Malone, 73, grew up in Coburn and, after graduating from Penn State, took a job at the former HRB Singer company, now known as Raytheon. He spent 35 years there before retiring in 1998. Now, he logs 20 to 25 hours per month volunteering through RSVP at Centre County PAWS, Habitat for Humanity, American Philatelic Society, and many more.

Of all the activities he does with the volunteer group, he enjoys the pen-pal program most. Each volunteer is assigned a pen pal at the beginning of the school year and corresponds with him or her via e-mail seven times during the year, ending with an opportunity for an in-person meeting near the end of the school year.

“I feel a need of filling a void in the student, and they are able share things with me that they may not have a parent to share with,” he says. “It’s very satisfying to know that you’re helping to shape the life of a young person.”

Malone and his wife, Sylvia, were always active at Grace Lutheran Church, but did not have time for any other volunteer work before they retired because of his work schedule and raising their three daughters, Susan, Sharon, and Sandra.

In addition to his work with students through the pen-pal program, Malone enjoys helping his fellow senior citizens. He delivers Meals on Wheels every Monday and recently made his first trip to the Altoona Veterans Affairs Hospital as the driver of a newly purchased van for the Disabled American Veterans Transportation Program, a partnership between the county’s veterans-affairs office, RSVP, and Community Help Centre.

The trips to Altoona often involve downtime for Malone while the veterans receive treatment. Rather than sitting in the cafeteria or reading the newspaper during that time, he went into the hospital and offered his volunteer services there. He says it was the least he could do and it helped make for a more productive trip.

As chair of the RSVP advisory council, Malone also leads monthly meetings and puts in many additional hours recruiting new volunteers and helping the program’s small administrative staff.

“He’s always ready to do special projects and help do things here at the office that we don’t have the staffing resources to do ourselves,” says Brenda Reeve, an administrative assistant at RSVP. “He’s definitely a take-charge person, but with a friendly attitude.”

RSVP director Brian Querry says Malone is always willing to pitch in when needed and approaches everything with a positive attitude. He estimates Malone logs an additional three to four hours per week just on his duties as council chair.

“He definitely goes above and beyond just leading meetings and rubber stamping decisions,” Querry says. “He’s always going out and talking to people and recruiting people for the program.”

To that end, Malone encourages other senior citizens to get involved in the community, even if it’s just for an hour or two per month.

“I would say not become a couch potato,” he says with a laugh. “There are so many opportunities available within the county. Get out and enjoy life, and support your local community while you do it.”

Jenna Spinelle is a freelance writer in State College.