Las Vegas hospital volunteer recalls 25 years of easing patients’ minds

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For 25 years, Geri Grant has eased the fears of surgical patients at Valley Hospital.

She sits and talks to them as they wait to go under the knife at 620 Shadow Lane.

Some patients come in scared and very upset. Some will have extensive surgery. Others have never had surgery before. Most of them come to the hospital in a bad mood.

That’s where Grant steps in. She’s the ambassador for outpatient surgery, of sorts.

“It’s a good place to be if you like people,” she said. “When you serve people, it does something for you, I think. It makes you happy when you’re serving. There’s a great reward in serving people.”

The 83-year-old volunteer retired last week after a quarter-century of service at the hospital. Grant began working there three days a week in the late ’80s. At the time, her daughter was a phlebotomist at the hospital. Grant volunteered every Wednesday. Her five-hour shifts began at 8 a.m. and lasted through 1:30 p.m., depending on how much work there was to be done.

“I had to cut back because I don’t get around like I used to,” she said with a chuckle.

Grant filed paperwork, put together gurneys and patient charts, brought items to the lab and pushed patients in wheelchairs to where they needed to go. She came equipped with a cup of water or coffee — a nice olive branch peace offering for cranky patients who would rather be anywhere else than waiting to lie down on an operating table.

The Spring Valley resident admits a lot has changed in the past 25 years, with changes in technology and how the hospital operates.

Babies were left out in the open, so everyone could see them. That no longer happens.

Gall bladder patients used to stay in the hospital for days. Now, they spend one night upstairs at the most.

Children’s tours used to make a stop in radiology to see X -rays of unfortunate patients who swallowed money or had spoons in their stomachs.

“It was meant to show them not to put certain things in their mouths,” Grant said, laughing. “Some of these kids had never been to the hospital before. If they had to come, now they knew what it was like. We gave them the bright side of things.”

Hospital food, which used to be a negative experience, has improved with time, she added.

“That cafeteria, after 25 years, is wonderful,” she said. “The salads and soups, the other things are good, too. There are a lot of other things to eat. We’ve gone through a lot of cooks in that time.”

She’ll miss the nurses the most, though.

“It’s been wonderful working with these nurses; some of them I’ve worked practically alongside of them for 25 years,” Grant said. “You just make deep friendships with them. … I think just serving your fellow man is a good thing to do. It does a lot for yourself, and you end up being the winner.”

Contact Downtown and North Las Vegas View reporter Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@viewnews.com or 383-0492.