Western Health welcomed former volunteer Marie Marchant back to Footscray Hospital to celebrate her 100th birthday last week, hosting a surprise morning tea on Friday, December 13.
It was arranged by fellow long-time Western Health volunteer Les Mather, along with the volunteering team.
Marie turned 100 in early December.
Marie worked as a volunteer at Western Health from 1998-2022. She mainly did administrative work but also worked in the outpatients department at Footscray and Sunshine hospitals, and day oncology at Sunshine Hospital.
Marie retired as a volunteer at age 98, but has remained a cherished member of the Western Health team.
She thought she was attending a volunteers reunion, but instead dozens of her friends and former colleagues at Western Health visited her in the Mavis Mitchell Room at Footscray Hospital.
Marie said she was very surprised to see so many people turning up for the “lovely” morning tea.
She said the secret to her longevity was her daily crosswords – “cryptic is my favourite” – and her favourite part of volunteering at Footscray and Sunshine hospitals was helping people.
“I really like talking to strangers. You see people come in and they are not sure where to go, and I like to help them”.
Western Health community engagement and volunteers manager Kerry Shanahan said, “Marie is very professional. She’s just the epitome of resilience – it’s ‘keep calm and carry on’. As a volunteer she loved watching people. She loved studying people’s characters“.
Fellow volunteer Les Mather, who started as a volunteer just one year before Marie in 1997 and who arranged the surprise party, said Marie was very well known for her wit, and was loved by many at Western Health.
Marie, a long-time Deer Park resident, signed up to the hospital’s volunteer program in 1998, the year her husband Ted died there after suffering cardiac arrest.
