Star Volunteers : Los Robles Regional Medical Center auxiliary gets national exposure as it celebrates 1 million hours of service.

Viewers of ABC’s nationally televised show “Good Morning America” were greeted by volunteers from Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks on Aug. 6. The 500 members of Los Robles Volunteers Inc., a nonprofit auxiliary organization, were celebrating 1 million hours of service since the program began in 1971.

And you might have guessed--nearly half of them are age 60 and older.

Senior volunteers are worth their age in gold. If you have visited a hospital recently, chances are you benefited from volunteer services that usually include a gift-shop operation, mail delivery and the comforting of young patients.

“If there was a volunteer strike, we’d shut this place down,” said volunteer Art Lloyd, 78. And hospital administrators across the country struggling with escalating operating costs recognize the invaluable contribution made by volunteers.

But those involved also acknowledge the symbiotic nature of the relationship.

“We need this hospital as much as they need us,” said 82-year-old volunteer Buelah Teel.

“I don’t know what I’d do without this place,” added Lloyd, who has been donating his time three days a week for more than 10 years.

Arletta Shirey, 88, and Louise White, 89, are the hospital’s two oldest active volunteers. Like their colleagues, they wear the “uniform” consisting of a seafoam-green jacket, name tag, white soft-soled shoes and either white pants or skirt. Also, both women proudly wear gold lapel pins awarded for over 1,000 hours of service.

Shirey joined the group in 1985. As a “floater” who helps wherever she is needed, Shirey estimated that she walks about seven miles during a weekly shift.

White, on the other hand, is a ubiquitous presence in the waiting room of the intensive care unit, where she comforts anxious relatives and keeps the coffee pot full. “My whole business is to be gracious,” White said.

Volunteers operate 48 patient-support and educational programs in the hospital, according to Iona Mayville, the group’s 64-year-old president. But she is especially proud of the Medicare Counseling Program. The free service helps anyone on Medicare to understand hospital bills and to obtain information about their supplemental medical insurance. “We also will call the Medicare office in Los Angeles to find out the status of people’s claims. Many people don’t understand the bureaucracy and we help to relieve their anxiety,” Mayville said.

To honor the 1 million-hour milestone, the Thousand Oaks City Council declared Aug. 3-9 as Los Robles Volunteer Week. Meanwhile, seated at her reception desk in the intensive care waiting room, White said, “I don’t work for the hours. I work for the satisfaction and the happiness--we don’t get paid, you know.”

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A few months ago Norma Drake established T.U.G.S. (Together United Grandparents Support), a Camarillo-based group for grandparents having difficulty with visitation or other grandparental rights. And on Aug. 10, Drake joined about 200 others from around the state who rallied on the Capitol steps in Sacramento to demand legislation and financial support to assist custodial grandparents.

According to the T.U.G.S. mission statement, the organization was formed to “create awareness of the issues, problems and challenges confronting grandparent and other relative caregivers. They have in common their shared concerns about the safety and well being of their minor relative children.”

Drake said similar groups with different names are forming throughout the state. “All the groups are joining to become one voice--the California Coalition of Grandparental and Relative Caregivers,” she said.

T.U.G.S. meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at the Camarillo Community Center, 1605 E. Burnley St., Camarillo. For more information, call 388-1929 or 482-2962.

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Everyone age 55 or older and the disabled will be admitted free to the Ventura County Fair on Tuesday. As a special bonus, seniors will get to ride the carousel and Ferris wheel free all day. The following popular senior events will be held at the Seabreeze Community Stage: 11 a.m., blessing of marriage ceremony (advance registration required, call 648-2829); noon, senior dance contest; 1:30, Senior Queen Pageant. Also, several senior musical and dance groups will perform from 1 to 6 p.m.

The Ventura County Fairgrounds is situated off the Ventura Freeway at California Street in Ventura. The fair will be open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight. Exhibits will close at 10 p.m. Parking at the fairgrounds is $3. Free shuttle buses will run every half hour through 11 p.m. from parking sites at Buenaventura Plaza, Ventura High School and the County Government Center. For more information, call 648-3376.

* FYI

The Medicare Counseling Service is in Room 300 of the 2220 Building at the Los Robles Regional Medical Center complex, Lynn and Janss roads in Thousand Oaks. The office is open from 9 a.m. to noon Mondays through Thursdays, and also 1 to 4 p.m Thursdays. For more information, call 379-5546. The next training session for Medicare counseling volunteers will start Sept. 1. To register for Medicare program training or to become a volunteer with the hospital at 215 W. Janss Road, call 379-5532.