THOUSAND OAKS : Hospital Volunteers Mark Milestone

They think of themselves as a family with 500 members.

The “family” is the volunteers who work at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. During the past 21 years, the volunteers have contributed 1 million hours of service, according to hospital officials.

To celebrate the milestone, hospital administrators are planning a day of special events Thursday, capped by a dinner for volunteers.

The family of volunteers includes some real families, such as Jacki Rolin and her daughter Stacey, who began volunteering in November. Both have full-time jobs. “They treat the volunteers very well. I never leave without the nurses thanking me very, very much for doing things. They don’t expect me to do things, they thank me,” said Jacki Rolin.

She volunteers in the nursery because she misses her 20-month-old granddaughter Alexa, who lives in Portland, Ore. “It makes me feel good that maybe I can fill in for somebody else who’s away from their grandchild at the moment,” she said.

Stacey Rolin works in the emergency room to gain experience that she hopes will help her land a job as a firefighter.

She and her mother sometimes tell contrasting stories at the end of the week. “Mom says, ‘I had five cute babies today.’ I say, ‘Yeah, a guy fell out of a tree and another guy fell off his motorcycle today,’ ” she said.

Another Thousand Oaks family is represented by three generations. Ruth Housmann works in the gift shop. Her daughter Barbara Detmer volunteers in the critical care waiting room and grandson Scott Detmer works as a “floater” in various departments.

Two others who have contributed to the 1 million hours are Louise White, 89, and Arleta Shirley, 88, the hospital’s oldest volunteers.

Unlike some hospitals, Los Robles also has many male volunteers.

“Men think it’s too elementary or something, but it really isn’t. It’s a real challenge,” said Ted Brown. He recently received a lapel pin commemorating his 1,250 hours of service at the hospital.

Brown met another volunteer, Allen Wayne, in the hospital lobby and discovered that the two had been born in the same Portland hospital three days apart.

Now, the two 69-year-old retirees talk like a comedy team, each finishing the other’s stories.

As they talked in the lobby, Wayne and Brown waved at a procession of other volunteers and staff members, all of whom they knew by name.

“It’s a real family atmosphere around here,” Wayne said.