Volunteers bring smiles to Scripps Encinitas
North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
ENCINITAS —- That big smile behind the counter at the Scripps Memorial
Hospital Encinitas gift store belongs to Paula Visser, while the
jack-of-all-trades …

ENCINITAS —- That big smile behind the counter at the Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas gift store belongs to Paula Visser, while the jack-of-all-trades volunteering at the hospital’s thrift store in Solana Beach is Paula’s husband, Steve Visser.

“They’re superstars,” said Carrie Cushman, coordinator of the hospital’s 250-member volunteer corps, which includes people from age 14 to folks in their 90s. The Vissers help out at the hospital’s stores every other Saturday.

“They have that can-do attitude,” Cushman said, “and we’re very lucky to have them here.”

Paula Visser has logged 9,500 hours since she began as a Scripps volunteer in 1993, after retiring from a banking job.

She leads arts and crafts events, serves on the auxiliary’s board and was its treasurer for many years. She donates her time to the gift shop and the hospital’s Good Things thrift shop on 200 Lomas Santa Fe Road in Solana Beach.

Scripps has been good to her, Paula Visser said, and this is her way of giving back.

During an interview at the hospital, the Encinitas residents said Scripps hospitals in La Jolla provided “very good experiences” during nearly 20 operations Paula Visser has undergone to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Doctors replaced one of her shoulders, both knees, both hips and have worked on her hands and feet. Next month, she’s scheduled for surgery on her jaw.

Not to worry, Mrs. Visser said. She’ll be back at work in no time, brightening the little stores with her smiles.

Steve Visser has improved the store with his handiwork and for years enlivened the pages of the auxiliary’s newsletter as editor of The Messenger.

A General Atomics design supervisor, laying out offices for the big company is one of his jobs. The experience proved helpful during a cleanup of the old thrift store on Vulcan Avenue in Encinitas and when moving into the present one in Solana Beach.

He also provides the store with two very valuable assets: a pick-up truck and a strong back.

At his computer, Steve Visser expanded the auxiliary newsletter from a couple of sheets to a bimonthly booklet full of photographs. He set stories with a large typeface so people with poor eyesight could read them more easily, he said.

He has handed the job of newsletter editing to another auxiliary member but continues to enjoy the rewards of other volunteer work.

So does his wife.

Before her interview with a reporter last week, Paula Visser worked her shift at the hospital gift store, where some nurses bought a stuffed beagle for a patient who was having a hard time. The nurses brought the patient her gift and sang “Happy Birthday.” A nurse returned to the gift store to tell Paula Visser how they had brightened the patient’s day.

“That kind of thing keeps me going,” Paula Visser said. “It motivates me to keep volunteering.”