We salute those who - New Orleans City Business

VOLUNTEERViola CocranPosition: volunteer, Slidell Memorial HospitalAge: 86Family: daughters, Suzanne, 55, Debbi, 52, Marlene, 51; five great-grandchildrenEducation: Biloxi High School alumnaphoto by Tracie Morris SchaeferSlidell was just a city of dirt roads whenViola Cocran moved there, and SlidellMemorial Hospital was still a concept waitingto be built.“I was just going there helping whereverthey needed me,” mostly in administration,”Cocran said.She recalls the days in 1959 when thehospital staff met at City Hall to prepare forthe new facility. She’s logged 38,000 volunteerhours at the hospital since then.Cocran typically starts her day at 6:30a.m., ahead of many others. “Good morning,Miss Viola,” workers greet her as theyarrive.“That’s what they call me. ‘Hey, MissViola,’ they’ll holler at me. It’s very rewardingto volunteer. I’m not a nurse, but I canrun errands for them.”She types, files, binds, faxes, staples,confirms meetings, makes phone calls,receives guests and attends special events.One of her daughters drives her to work.During the past 50 years, she’s workedin several areas of the hospital, includingpatient care.“Somebody may need some water. I usedto do that, just to make them feel happy andthat somebody cares for them. People get sobored.”Cocran said she’s volunteered for solong, she can’t remember the names of thepeople she’s helped over the years. But sheenjoys reading the many letters of thanksshe’s received.“They make me feel so wonderful, youknow.”At 86, Cocran said she’s rarely beensick. In April, she was dreading an eyeoperation that promised to sideline her fora day.“I hate staying home. I love to be withpeople. I’ve been so healthy, but with theold age, getting old, everything starts tohappen.”•— Diana ChandlerVOLUNTEERChristineDittmannPosition: volunteer, Touro InfirmaryAge: 42Family: husband, Steven; son, Drake, 11Education: bachelor’s degree in journalism, MichiganState UniversityChristine Dittmann wants cancer patients to know it’sno longer the death sentence it used to be.She’s living proof.Dittmann, a four-year ovarian cancer survivor, hasundergone 45 chemotherapy treatments and three surgeriesin the past four years. She is doing maintenancechemotherapy three times a month for the rest of her life tosurvive a disease with no cure.“Cancer is not the death sentence it once was,” she said.“You can fight it with support from your family andfriends, and 99 percent of it is about attitude.”Dittmann has been using her firsthand experience tohelp other women cancer patients by volunteering for thepast two years at Touro Infirmary. She is the co-facilitatorfor the hospital’s monthly gynecologic cancer supportgroup and has worked with Dr. Robert Gardner, the hospital’sdirector of psychosocial oncology and her gynecologiconcologist, to create a newsletter for women withgynecologic cancer.GIRL (Gaining Insight into Real Living) Talk debuted inDecember, and in it Dittmann shared her story and a poemshe authored, “Glory, Glory,” which was published nationallyin the May/June 2008 Coping with Cancer magazine.Dittmann also contributes to the gynecologic oncologynewsletter for Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge and isworking with the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance to starta training program called Survivors Teaching Students formedical and nursing students in Louisiana. The programlets ovarian cancer survivors tell their stories to students inthe hopes more women will be diagnosed earlier. Onceimplemented, Dittmann will be trained to go to the medicalschools to share her story.Before being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Dittmannhad a 20-year career in health care marketing for varioushospitals in Louisiana, a background, she said, that hashelped her with her volunteer work.“It just felt like it was a natural calling for me to helpothers,” she said. “With my background, I could helpother patients cope with what they were going throughand give them hope.”•— Tommy Santoraphoto by Frank Aymami36 Health Care Heroes