Community October 01, 2008
Weaving a Thread of Goodwill
For 17 years, twice a week, Connie Kastelowitz volunteered in Yale-New Haven Hospital’s emergency department, often putting in 12-hour days. And along the way, she made many friends.
“The staff would always ask, ‘Is Connie coming in today?’” says Bertie Chuong, who was director of the emergency department for seven and a half years. (Chuong is now manager of recovery services with the hospital’s ambulatory services division.) “She would weave her thread of goodwill, wisdom and enthusiasm in and out of the chaos of the emergency room.”
Kastelowitz has been on a medical leave from her position since October 2007, and the emergency department staff feels her absence. “She’s received many cards from the nurses and doctors, including a gigantic handmade card signed by all the staff. (“It was the cutest thing,” she says.) One card read, “We’re lost without you.”
She began volunteering at YNHH shortly after her husband, Adolph, died there in 1992. She was very impressed with the excellent care he received during his several admissions. “I supported the Hospital financially, but I wanted to give something of myself,” she says on her decision to volunteer.
“Yale-New Haven Hospital is incredibly fortunate to have Connie as a member of our volunteer family,” says Jeannette Hodge, the hospital’s director of patient relations, volunteer and guest services. “She is a very special woman.”
The lead volunteer in the department, Kastelowitz trained new volunteers, wrote duty protocols, supported patients and their families and was the only volunteer allowed in the trauma unit.
Kastelowitz is so committed to the work of the emergency department that she established the Constance Kastelowitz Education Fund to support staff training, education and advancement in the emergency department. Kastelowitz was the hospital’s first charitable gift annuitant with a gift of $25,000, and she has been a regular supporter of the Annual Fund.
“When patients come into the emergency room, half of them are alone. They’re scared. They don’t know what’s going to happen. I helped put them at ease,” she says.
Kastelowitz trained as a nurse’s aide through the Red Cross in her native Buffalo, NY. Though she says she always had an interest in medicine, she attended business college as a young woman and enjoyed a successful career at Bell Aerospace Textron, famous for manufacturing the first commercial helicopters. She retired in 1979 as executive assistant to the president.
A tireless volunteer, Kastelowitz is on her fifth term on Old Lyme’s planning commission. She also gives her time to High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Center and was an active member of the Circle of Hope of the American Cancer Society. The town of Old Lyme named her Citizen of the Year in 2003.
“The challenge is trying to find time to fit it all in,” says Kastelowitz, who admits she’s not a “hobby sort of person.” She hopes to get back to the emergency department soon. “I’m just itching to go back. I really miss it.”
Article originally appeared in the summer 2008 issue of Impact Magazine (Pages 7)
http://www.ynhh.org/develop/ImpactSummer08.pdf
