If you’ve spent any time at the UConn Health Center, chances are you’ve encountered a smiling face in a blue jacket ready to answer a question, help you get to your appointment, deliver medication to a hospital floor, or transport a patient in a wheelchair.

Those are just some of the tasks Health Center volunteers assist with every day.

“We would not be the UConn Health Center without them,” says Carlene Bartolotta, director of patient relations and volunteer services. “They are truly ambassadors, here to do whatever they can to help make us successful in all of our missions.”

Joanne Healy of Granby is in her fourth decade as a Health Center volunteer.

“My children were in school, one of them was a nurse here, and I started with the Cuddler Program,” Healy says. “I enjoy being with people.”

Cuddlers are volunteers who hold premature babies in the neonatal nursery, providing quiet time, stimulation and affection under the supervision and direction of nursing staff. Healy now is at the information desk in the main lobby every Friday afternoon.

June Sponzo of Avon was recognized this year for 15 years of volunteer service.

“I took early retirement from Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company, now Mass Mutual, and I wanted to do something interacting with people,” says Sponzo, who normally volunteers on Tuesday afternoons.

This week is National Volunteer Week, and Bartolotta encourages the community to thank the nearly 400 volunteers who give their time to the Health Center. So does Jan Anne Bernard, the administrative coordinator of volunteer services.

“Our family of volunteers should be warmly celebrated this week and throughout the entire year for all of their good deeds and outstanding performance,” Bernard says. “They’re wonderful. They don’t say no to too much. They’re very dedicated.”

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