by Pat Kramer

Judy Frazier, director of volunteer services at City of Hope, has been appointed to the board of the American Society of Directors of Volunteer Services, a national organization that promotes and supports health-care volunteerism.

Frazier will join the group’s 10-member board in January 2007.

The appointment marks a new level of service for Frazier, who is past president of the Southern California Association of Directors of Volunteer Services. She also has served on the Directors Coordinating Council for the California Association of Hospitals and Healthcare Systems, a statewide advocacy organization.

“I am really excited about this appointment,” Frazier said. “Some changes are being made for us by the federal government, and I want to make sure that we are meeting all our obligations to our facilities, volunteers and hospitals that have auxiliaries and guilds.”

Volunteer services directors also need to stay current with Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requirements, as well as and state and federal regulations, she said.

In her role on the board, Frazier plans to educate staff about volunteers’ availability and what they can and cannot do. “We need to make sure that our volunteers are properly trained while giving them an opportunity to be of service,” Frazier said.

She notes that the demographic of volunteers has changed with the times: No longer the stay-at-home housewife with kids in school, today’s volunteers are business people from large companies, retired presidents and vice presidents, company-owners, working women and college students, as well as those seeking to re-enter the work force. City of Hope volunteer services staff members, like their counterparts across the nation, have created opportunities to meet these varied volunteers’ needs.

Regardless of volunteers’ backgrounds, Frazier said, “service is a way they can give back for the care they or their loved ones received at City of Hope.”