Our Walter Reed Volunteer Story: Karel, Therese & Carol

Written by: Rose Ellen O’Connor, volunteer

Karel Fick’s son, an Air Force Captain, was stationed overseas, moving in and out of Afghanistan in 2005, and she was endlessly worried about him. She was used to the military – her father was a Navy Lieutenant who talked about his service in World War II and her husband served as an Army Lieutenant in Vietnam – but that didn’t help because this was her son. “It’s a mother’s job to worry,” she says. Karel was relieved and grateful when he came home safely and decided she wanted to help other military moms. So she turned to the Red Cross and started volunteering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

Therese Shell, Karel’s neighbor, heard her stories and decided she wanted to volunteer too. It was a good fit, she says, because her husband is a retired Navy Commander and her son is a Navy Lieutenant Commander.

Carol DeLeon wanted a change after 18 years as a volunteer in the White House correspondence department. A retired nurse, she wanted something in the health field and settled on Walter Reed.

Now all three women come together every Tuesday to try to make life a little more pleasant for the families of patients at Walter Reed. Their duties range from passing out basic needs items, such as clothing and toiletries, to asking hospital personnel for an update on a patient’s condition, to sitting and listening to a family member talk. They also hand out toiletries, give directions to local resources and explain how to get on the metro. If a family is in crisis, they’ll set up a room with snacks and water for them.

“Our goal is just to be soothing in a really stressful time,” says Karel. “We walk around the waiting room looking for families that might need a moral support. Usually, we let them talk and we tell them their patient is in the best place they could possibly be, you know, Walter Reed, and let them know we’re there if they need anything.”

Karel is the team leader for the Surgical Waiting Room and handles scheduling for all the volunteers. She works in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Carol, her co-team leader, helps with scheduling and works in the ICU, as well. Therese volunteers in the Surgical Waiting Room and brings in coffee and donuts every Tuesday. She also fills in for Karel or Carol if they can’t be in the ICU. “The coffee and donuts are a big hit,” Therese says. “I get that set up and everybody’s so happy to see it,” she says.

The volunteers can have a profound effect on a family. Last month, a retired Navy Commander was vacationing with his family in the Caribbean and had to be rushed to Walter Reed for emergency surgery. His wife and two adult sons followed him in. Karel was off and Therese was filling in for her. Carol and Therese brought sweat pants and sweat shirts for the family, along with toiletries. It was a no-brainer, they said.

“Coming from the Caribbean to this area in February was quite a shock,” Carol says. “We were making them a little more comfortable. They felt more secure that we were helping them.”

When the retired Navy Commander and his family left, they offered grateful praise for the volunteers specifically highlighting the ways in which they went out of their way to support their family, Marin Reynes, the Walter Reed volunteer supervisor says.

“Their feedback was solely focused on the Red Cross volunteers and the impact they had on their stay,” Marin says. “Karel, Carol and Therese may downplay their service, but they change lives every Tuesday.”

Sometimes things that seem so small can mean so much to the patients and family. The hospital is always dry, and patients and their family members are constantly looking for chap stick. Karel, Carol and Therese keep a ready supply.

“Somebody once said to me, you know handing out a chap stick or a comb or whatever is no big deal to you,” Karel says, “but to us it can make or break our day.”

Sometimes, the volunteers find themselves supporting family members in unusual and simple ways. A woman had been at her husband’s side for four days and hadn’t had a shower. Karel and Carol came to the rescue.

“We brought her some shampoo and conditioner and nice-smelling soap and then we found a social worker who found her a place to go take a bath,” Karel recalls. “And, boy, she felt fabulous.”

Volunteering can bring them to moments they treasure but never would have expected. Once the Pediatric ICU was looking for volunteers to hold a baby that had been removed from his home. He was very under-developed and needed to be held to learn how to form a bond. Karel and Carol were intrigued. They put on hospital gowns and masks and held the baby.

“He was very responsive,” Karel says. “It made us feel good. I mean we might have helped him make some pathways in his brain. He was too insecure to actually smile but he was getting there. The good news is he went home with his family and hopefully lives happily ever after.”

The volunteers constantly look for ways to connect with family members. A wounded soldier came into the hospital and was nonresponsive. His mother was with him all the time. So Karel and Carol started visiting her. Karel asked where she was from and the mom said Riverside, CA. Karel had lived in Orange County, CA. “We made a connection there and we would talk about California. That gave her comfort – something she could relate to.”

The son eventually came around and was discharged.

“By the time he left here, he was awake. He would look at us and smile,” Karel says. “So that was another happy ending.”

Therese tries to make connections with family members in the Surgical Waiting Room. They’re often agitated and the hours drag on as they wait for word of their loved one. She calls and gets updates for them and then just sits with them and tries to calm them. She tells them that scheduled surgeries sometimes get bumped by emergencies and that could explain the wait.

“We just like to feel that we’re soothing and taking some of the intrigue and worry away,” Therese says.

Karel and Carol take a similar approach in the ICU waiting room. A soldier was medevacked from Afghanistan to Walter Reed and his mother was waiting for him. She was distraught and they just sat with her and listened.

“Some people just need to talk, so we sat with her for quite a while,” Karel recalls. “And when we were getting up to leave she hugged us both and said thank you so much. That really touched me.”

Karel lives with her husband Robert and her cat Chessie in Gaithersburg, MD. She has two sons, Scott and Alex, and one grandchildren.

Carol lives with her husband, Leonardo, in Silver Spring, MD. She has four sons, Leo, Michael, Paul and Matthew, and five grandchildren.

Therese lives with her husband Mark in Gaithersburg, MD. She has two sons and a daughter, Jason, Justin and Christie, and three grandchildren with a fourth on the way.