Back in 1979, when Marilyn White decided to become a volunteer at Parkland Health & Hospital System, there weren’t that many women physicians. “Most were nurses or teachers,” White recalls. “So I earned a degree in mathematics, got a job, and started working as a volunteer at Parkland.” It was then, she adds, that she “began ‘practicing medicine’ without a license.”
Today, a whopping 11,275 volunteer hours later, White has logged more hours as a volunteer than any other volunteer at Dallas-based Parkland. For nearly four decades she’s donned her uniform and “practiced medicine” by lifting the spirits of patients, staff, and visitors there, flashing her infectious smile and giving out chocolate “kisses,” her signature gift. She keeps the treats in a well-worn plastic bag, and they’re always at the ready.
Every Monday and Thursday, White signs the registry in Parkland’s Volunteer & Guest Services department, then gets down to business. Mondays are spent in Palliative Care, where patients are facing a serious illness. Thursdays she works in Parkland’s Emergency Department, training new volunteers. White “can run circles around all of us,” says Alondra King, assistant service manager in the ED. “Her trademark ‘kisses’ and hugs bring smiles to patients and staff. Marilyn genuinely loves people.”
Adds Stacey Merlin, the Parkland chaplain: “Marilyn has a rare gift of being both approachable and compassionate. She has helped me with many of my patients as I’ve provided pastoral care services over the years in the trauma center. We don’t usually use volunteers in this critical area of Parkland. But Marilyn has walked the trauma halls for so many decades, and has such a great intuitive sense of what these patients and families need, that she is a natural fit.”
