Press Release

Hewitt Honored at Annual Iowa Hospital Association Meeting

Lou Hewitt was honored as the Burgess Health Center Shining Star at the 2011 Iowa Hospital Association Annual Meeting Auxiliary/Volunteer/CEO Luncheon on Thursday, October 6, 2011.

The IHA “Shining Star of Your Hospital” Award is a unique opportunity to recognize and publicly acknowledge the invaluable work done by outstanding Iowa hospital volunteers and auxilians. It showcases active volunteers, guild members, and auxilians who have shown dedication and initiative in their work and have positively contributed to Iowa hospitals.

Hewitt has been volunteering for Burgess Health Center and serving on the Auxiliary Board for over thirty years. While teaching music at West Monona Elementary Hewitt devoted a good portion of her summer break each year to chairing Ventures, an annual arts and crafts show sponsored by the Burgess Auxiliary.

She had just made the decision to retire from teaching at the same time the auxiliary president approached her about managing the new expanded hospital gift shop. Since then Hewitt has spent countless hours purchasing and displaying items, recruiting and scheduling gift shop volunteers, and helping customers find the perfect item.

The Burgess gift shop is small as measured by square footage but the revenue generated by this project is amazing thanks to the wide range of reasonably priced specialty merchandise Lou is able to make available. Hewitt also generously schedules herself to regularly work in the gift shop and fills in whenever needed.

“Burgess is honored to have Lou as a volunteer and grateful for the work and leadership she provides,” said Jean Pekarek, director of patient experiences at Burgess.

Joining Hewitt at the luncheon and award presentation were Pekarek; Fran Tramp, Burgess president and CEO; and Gloria Hausman, Burgess Auxiliary president.