Saving the best for last at a luncheon last Tuesday, Vaughan Regional Medical Center Auxillary’s Mable Clair Smith was recognized as this year’s volunteer of the year.

Smith, 91, has been a volunteer for 26 years at what is now Vaughan Regional Medical Center. When she began her work &045; more than 12,000 volunteer hours ago &045;

it was called the Selma Baptist Hospital.

She continues to work two shifts a week &045; on Mondays from 1-5 p.m. at the front desk in the hospital and on Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the nuclear medicine department. At the front desk Smith – along with four other volunteers on the shift –

answers the phone, sorts the mail, carries flowers to patients, pushes wheel chairs and directs friends and family members to patients’ rooms.

She works alone on the nuclear medicine shift , doing such things as making up beds, checking the inventory of supplies, replenishing linens, doing filing, greeting patients and picking them up at the waiting station.

Smith said, &uot;I love every moment I spend at the hospital. I find the work very fulfilling. When I see the patients with their aches and pains and realize how much worse off they are than I, it really makes me appreciate my good health.&uot;

Smith’s other volunteer activities include her work as a member of Queen of Peace Catholic Church.

Smith keeps fit by walking three miles daily in New Live Oak Cemetery

&uot;rain or shine every day except Thursday.&uot;

At the end of the event, Smith walked around the block from the convention center

to Broad Street where her late-model bright red Ford Explorer was parked. She hopped up into the driver’s seat and drove on to her next appointment.