VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION SCHEDULED

St. Francis Medical Center will host two volunteer orientation programs in September designed to familiarize people with the hospital and acquaint them with the volunteer corps and auxiliary.

Volunteer activities are a vital part of the day to day activities at many medical facilities across the nation, including St. Francis in Cape Girardeau.

This year the medical center's 450 adult and teen volunteers will donate about 70,000 hours to the hospital and its patients. Their donated hours will save the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars in terms of manpower costs.

"We have an ongoing need for people willing to serve in a variety of volunteer capacities," said Bonnie Perdue, coordinator of volunteer services at St. Francis.

"And we want people who might be interested in donating some of their spare time to know about the volunteering opportunities at our hospital."

The first orientation program is scheduled for Sept. 3, from 1-3 p.m. in the St. Francis Health & Education Centre. The second program will be held the following Sept. 10, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., at the St. Francis Information Center at Jackson.

For more information about these activities or about St. F~rancis Medical Center's overall volunteer and auxiliary programs, contact the hospital's Volunteer Services office at 339-6166.