Gravholt Named United Way Volunteer Of Month

Posted on January 20, 2011 10:25

Gravholt Named United Way Volunteer Of Month

Published: Sunday, October 24, 2010 9:26 PM CDT

How does one follow a career of education and public service? Well, if you’re the September United Way Volunteer of the Month, you continue to educate and serve, of course.

Loy Gravholt was singled out for the volunteer roles he currently plays at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital—patient liaison, patient liaison trainer, TEAM member—but that is just the tip of the iceberg for this energetic gentleman.

His resumé includes stints as Cub Scout master, Boy Scout assistant leader, Little League baseball umpire, assistant Teener baseball coach, and mentor for Optimist Oratorical Contest participants (helping local young people win thousands of dollars in scholarships).

The retired educator (he taught for thirty-nine years, nearly all at Yankton High School) has been recognized at many levels for his devotion to teaching, coaching, and young people. Local Optimists gave him their Friend of Youth Award in 1988; the South Dakota Speech Teachers Association presented him a National Forensics League Award in 1998; and he was the recipient of the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2009.

Actually, Gravholt is not just a reward recipient, but also an award giver. Each year, he presents the Loy Gravholt Oral Interp Award to the Yankton High School student with the most outstanding season in that discipline.

A longtime member of First United Methodist Church, he’s been chair of its Pastor Relations Committee, spent seventeen years in charge of the Methodist Riverboat Days food booth, and is currently in his sixth year as Trustee Committee chair. He’s also served as leader of an adult Sunday School class that has gone through parenting and other life experiences together—for thirty years.

All this, plus, for about the last decade, Gravholt has made Avera Sacred Heart Hospital his special volunteer focus.

He is one of four liaisons between the institution and those using its services. Nearly all the ill or injured in the hospital more than a day or two will receive a visit from these “patient advocates.” The liaisons ask questions, trying to make sure care is up to high standards.

Gravholt says, “Oftentimes, we can head off some bigger problems.” The liaisons can help mediate between patients and their families and staff, when necessary, and answer questions about how things work.

For example, he recently talked to a patient unhappy with her pain control, and what she felt was the nursing staff’s unresponsiveness to her concerns. He explained that only the doctor could change the amount of pain medication, helping her address the problem and, most important, making her more comfortable.

Patient liaisons write up detailed reports of each visit for distribution to the volunteer services office, the head nurse, and, when there is a specific complaint (say, about food or a particular staff member), the person in charge of that area.

Patient complaints are always followed up. After all, as Gravholt says, the goal of the program is to provide “a way for a patient to leave Sacred Heart Hospital with a good feeling.”

Even when that sometimes means that Gravholt and the other liaisons just spend time listening to a patient with no one else to talk to.

Another of his current hospital responsibilities is training new patient liaisons because, as his nominator wrote, “[Loy] knows so much about helping patients.”

Some of that knowledge comes from his participation as a member of TEAM (The Escort Assistance Members), the twenty-five or so men and women who “do errands” as needed. Gravholt enjoys the camaraderie among those who work together on a regular basis. He enjoys less the frequent need to relearn pathways through the hospital during remodeling projects!

But, as it’s all in aid of providing better care for patients, he and other volunteers gladly put up with it. Gravholt emphasizes that they take very seriously the mission statement of Avera Sacred Heart Hospital: “to make a positive impact in the lives and health of persons and communities by providing quality services guided by Christian values.”

In fact, looking at his life of education and public service, one might conclude that this is also Gravholt’s own mission statement. And he encourages others—especially those who have time, as he now does—to ask questions about what opportunities there are and get involved. He says, “You always walk away with a good feeling when you volunteer.” He ought to know.