By Judy Van Dyck recognized for decades of service to El Camino Hospital

Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier

By Clyde Noel and Bruce Barton

Town Crier Staff Report

Judy Van Dyck considers herself a quiet, “behind the scenes” volunteer who has put in more than 12,000 hours as a member of the El Camino Hospital Auxiliary.

“I always try to do things in the background,” she said last week.

But this is about to change.

Van Dyck, 62, doesn’t plan on giving up volunteering any time soon, but her “behind the scenes” status may be forever lost. That’s because more than 100 guests honored her May 1 with the 38th Community Service Award. They saluted the amiable Van Dyck with a standing ovation during the annual luncheon, held at Michael’s at Shoreline restaurant and co-sponsored by the Los Altos district of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, along with the Mountain View Voice and the Los Altos Town Crier.

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing and we are proud to have Judy at El Camino Hospital.” said Charlene M. Gliniecki, vice president of human resources at El Camino Hospital, in introducing Van Dyck. “It’s unbelievable how much she has given to El Camino through the years and she is continuing to volunteer for us.”

The Community Service Award was established 38 years ago by the Los Altos Board of Realtors to salute unsung volunteers giving selflessly to their community. The ceremony has continued unimpeded through the years and is now sponsored by the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors.

The theme for the 38th award luncheon was SOS or “Serve Our Society,” with banners scattered through the dining room and on each table.

Phyllis Carmichael, local realtor and presenter of the award, referred to the many recommendations received from different organizations and individuals honoring the volunteers.

“You should read what they say about the volunteers and the good they do when they are recommended. It’s difficult to pick one person,” Carmichael said. “Last year was difficult so we selected Roy Lave and John Mandle for co-awards. This year, Judy made it easy.”

The Los Altos resident, who has consistently given her time to hospital work since her husband Walter’s death in 1988, views her efforts as helping those who have helped her. It was through El Camino that Van Dyck survived breast cancer and, ultimately, the death of her husband, Walter, a noted gynecologist at the Sunnyvale Medical Clinic. A nurse’s station has been dedicated in his memory, and his photo hangs in the labor and delivery area.

“When my husband died, I was a little fragile - I said, ‘I need to go forward. I can’t sit here and have a pity party,’” Van Dyck said.

Van Dyck has been with the auxiliary since 1989, but had also served in the hospital’s early days, from 1962 to 1969.

Volunteering has always been a part of Van Dyck’s life, not only at El Camino but also at St. Simon’s Parish and School, where her sons, Brian and Dan, attended. She put her nursing skills to good use, organizing and directing the school’s health program from 1968 to 1983. She was instrumental in getting sex education as well as drug and alcohol abuse programs implemented.

Among her other volunteer efforts, Van Dyck was a school nurse at St. Francis High School, a Boy Scout merit badge counselor and even a boys’ and girls’ basketball coach. This last activity clearly runs in the family. Her father, George Ireland, “struck a blow for civil rights” as head basketball coach at Loyola University of Chicago. He was the first coach to field four starting black players. His 1963 team went on to win the national championship.

Van Dyck seems quite aware of the fragile nature of life itself, given her husband’s death and her own health setbacks. Three years ago she fell off a 6-foot ladder in her garage and crushed her left foot. She was bedridden for a full year. But friends and family supported her in her recovery.

“One of them came every day to make sure I was OK,” Van Dyck said.

As a cancer survivor, Van Dyck said she “always live(s) with a fear of urgency - you’ve got to do it now.” For the past two years, she has organized the information program for Breast Cancer Awareness Week at El Camino.

As president of the auxiliary (1995-97), Van Dyck kept members focused on patient care during a time of great distraction - the hospital was having a management identity crisis under a Camino Healthcare integrated delivery system.

“We kept focused on our mission statement,” Van Dyck said. “We kept neutral.” As president, Van Dyck was putting in 40-60 hours per week.

Van Dyck appeared humbled by last week’s honor, but quickly turned from humility to humor, saying she expected such a turnout at a wake and that she had to read the obituary section to make sure she wasn’t there.

“I was so overwhelmed, all I wanted to do was sit down,” she said after the ceremony. “I didn’t even know what I was going to say.”

Van Dyck told the gathering that humor has played a big role in getting her through difficult stages of her life. She recalled that after her mastectomies in the mid-1970s, she was hesitant to go swimming with her kids. The boys advised her to wear socks. She recalled their saying, “You’ll be fine as long as you don’t get them wet.”

“Judy is always willing to help out whenever she hears of a need or a new area where she can use her talents and be of service, whether it be in her neighborhood, her church or her community,” said longtime friend and neighbor Lois Lepesh. Lepesh nominated Van Dyck for this year’s honor.

Auxiliary member Betty Kerwin echoed Lepesh’s sentiments. “She is the most pleasant person,” said Kerwin, who has known Van Dyck for 10 years. “If you ask her to do anything, it’s done.”

Kerwin recalled that, as president of the auxiliary, Van Dyck left “little rainbows” for her fellow volunteers to bring “good cheer.”

“I have never seen Judy down,” Kerwin said. “She never complains about anything.”

The day following the award ceremony, Van Dyck was back at work at El Camino, spending time with what she calls her extended family.

Her roles at the hospital are diverse. She could be overseeing 80 auxiliary volunteers on a given day. She might act as a hostess in the surgical waiting room, comforting anxious families. She might have to troubleshoot a problem with auxiliary services. Or she might make sure the snack and gift shops have enough change in their registers.

“I need to make a lot of judgment calls - they say it’s a good job for a past president,” Van Dyck said.

Van Dyck, quoting from an anonymous source in Dr. Bernie Siegel’s book, “How To Live Between Office Visits: A Guide to Life, Love and Health,” gave last week’s audience insights into her motivation for volunteering. “If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap. If you want to be happy for a day, go fishing. If you want to be happy for a month, get married (this one drew some laughs). If you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, do something good for someone else … That’s when I’m most happy,” she said.