Published: Friday, December 12, 2008
'Amazing' hospital volunteer honored
Marriam Oliver isn't one to sugarcoat reality.
Before meeting the 72-year-old at her Everett home Wednesday, we talked on the phone. I struggled to ask about what I knew: Since a health crisis several months ago, Oliver has used a wheelchair.
"I'm a paraplegic," she said, blunt as could be.
Yes, she's learning to live with a burdensome disability. Yes, she's past the age when many people start to settle into relaxing retirement. But no, she won't sit home in pain and isolation. Not Oliver.
Instead, she's back in the hospital -- not as a patient, but as a longtime and valued volunteer.
"She's amazing. I can't say enough about Marriam," said Wendy Turner, manager of volunteer services at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
Twice a week, Oliver is out the door by 6 a.m. She rolls down her driveway in her motorized chair to catch a paratransit bus to the hospital's Colby campus. Oliver works 7 a.m. to noon Mondays and Fridays in the surgery waiting room, a large area with couches, card tables and dog-eared magazines.
There, patients' families endure tense hours clock-watching and awaiting news as loved ones undergo surgery. As a volunteer, Oliver keeps the coffee and tea coming, and acts as a liaison among families, patients and medical staff.
A family member can't go into an operating room or a recovery room, but Oliver can. "She can talk to the staff in the back and get a report, and talk to patients," Turner said.
Oliver said she tells family members, "You can't be there, but I can." She delivers messages and even hugs to surgery patients. "I get some wild requests," she said.
Dr. Sanford Wright, an Everett neurosurgeon, found a way to thank Oliver for her thousands of hours of service.
On Saturday, Oliver will be honored as a volunteer hero at the annual "Christmas Spectacular." The musical program, starting at 7 p.m. at the Historic Everett Theatre, is a fundraiser and food drive for the Volunteers of America Food Bank. Wright has produced the show every holiday season since 2001.
"The show was put together immediately after 9/11. It was a hard time, the food bank really needed help," said Wright, whose father, the late Sanford Wright Sr., was a tireless champion of VOA in Snohomish County. The diverse program combines talents of many musical artists, including jazz pianist Dehner Franks, singers from the realms of opera and musical theater, and Everett's Second Baptist Church choir.
Oliver, a member of the Second Baptist Church, embodies the giving spirit that Wright's show celebrates. She'll be both an honoree and a performer on stage, said Wright, who wrote the script.
"Marriam is a quiet sort of woman, but she has a sense of people," Wright said. "She's able to say just the right thing at the right time." A short video about her life will be played during the program. "If you watch the video, you'll see her unique way of speaking, and her love of her family," Wright said.
Family is a huge part of Oliver's life. "I gave birth to five children and raised an extra 13 -- 18 kids. I have 21 grandkids and 16 great-grandchildren. It's exhausting sometimes, but a lot of fun," said Oliver, who was born in New Orleans and lived in California's Bay Area before moving here.
The light of her life is grandson J.P. Oliver. A standout prep football player and 2006 graduate of Cascade High School, J.P. Oliver was raised by Marriam Oliver from infancy. "He's mine," she said. Now a student athlete at Feather River Community College in Northern California, his aim is to play professional football, his grandmother said.
Before games, she said, he'll call to ask, "How many tackles would you like me to make today?" Pride shows on her face and in the pictures of her grandson that hang on Oliver's walls. She'd rather talk about her grandson than about any physical limitations.
"I can cook, and can run around in my chair, and make my bed," she said.
Wright, who performed surgery on Oliver in August, said Wednesday that she had developed a blood clot on her spinal cord. He had hoped the operation would bring back more leg function, Wright said. "Dr. Wright, he is a character, and he's quite a surgeon," she said.
Oliver worked for years as a cook at Seattle's Space Needle before she retired 13 years ago. Sitting home didn't suit her. Soon after retirement, she came to the hospital wanting to help. Along with the waiting room, she volunteers one day a week rocking babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.
"You can only cook so many meals. I needed something besides going to church," she said.
Physical changes have done nothing to lessen Oliver's drive to help people.
"Somebody needs to be there to talk with the families, to hold their hands, to pray with them," she said. "I figured that was my calling."
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
'Christmas Spectacular' benefits food bank
The annual "Christmas Spectacular: The Gift of Music" is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Admission is a minimum donation of $15 and five nonperishable food items. A benefit for the Volunteers of America Food Bank, the show is hosted by Brian Tracey. Among featured performers are jazz pianist Dehner Franks; opera singers Victor Benedetti and Megan Chenovick; Aubrey Logan of the vocal jazz quartet Syncopation; Broadway performer Chris Clay; dance teacher Eleanor Leight; the Snohomish County Chamber Choir and Everett's Second Baptist Church choir. Marriam Oliver, a volunteer at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, will be honored at the event.
Tickets: 425-258-6766 or at the door.
Before meeting the 72-year-old at her Everett home Wednesday, we talked on the phone. I struggled to ask about what I knew: Since a health crisis several months ago, Oliver has used a wheelchair.
"I'm a paraplegic," she said, blunt as could be.
Yes, she's learning to live with a burdensome disability. Yes, she's past the age when many people start to settle into relaxing retirement. But no, she won't sit home in pain and isolation. Not Oliver.
Instead, she's back in the hospital -- not as a patient, but as a longtime and valued volunteer.
"She's amazing. I can't say enough about Marriam," said Wendy Turner, manager of volunteer services at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
Twice a week, Oliver is out the door by 6 a.m. She rolls down her driveway in her motorized chair to catch a paratransit bus to the hospital's Colby campus. Oliver works 7 a.m. to noon Mondays and Fridays in the surgery waiting room, a large area with couches, card tables and dog-eared magazines.
There, patients' families endure tense hours clock-watching and awaiting news as loved ones undergo surgery. As a volunteer, Oliver keeps the coffee and tea coming, and acts as a liaison among families, patients and medical staff.
A family member can't go into an operating room or a recovery room, but Oliver can. "She can talk to the staff in the back and get a report, and talk to patients," Turner said.
Oliver said she tells family members, "You can't be there, but I can." She delivers messages and even hugs to surgery patients. "I get some wild requests," she said.
Dr. Sanford Wright, an Everett neurosurgeon, found a way to thank Oliver for her thousands of hours of service.
On Saturday, Oliver will be honored as a volunteer hero at the annual "Christmas Spectacular." The musical program, starting at 7 p.m. at the Historic Everett Theatre, is a fundraiser and food drive for the Volunteers of America Food Bank. Wright has produced the show every holiday season since 2001.
"The show was put together immediately after 9/11. It was a hard time, the food bank really needed help," said Wright, whose father, the late Sanford Wright Sr., was a tireless champion of VOA in Snohomish County. The diverse program combines talents of many musical artists, including jazz pianist Dehner Franks, singers from the realms of opera and musical theater, and Everett's Second Baptist Church choir.
Oliver, a member of the Second Baptist Church, embodies the giving spirit that Wright's show celebrates. She'll be both an honoree and a performer on stage, said Wright, who wrote the script.
"Marriam is a quiet sort of woman, but she has a sense of people," Wright said. "She's able to say just the right thing at the right time." A short video about her life will be played during the program. "If you watch the video, you'll see her unique way of speaking, and her love of her family," Wright said.
Family is a huge part of Oliver's life. "I gave birth to five children and raised an extra 13 -- 18 kids. I have 21 grandkids and 16 great-grandchildren. It's exhausting sometimes, but a lot of fun," said Oliver, who was born in New Orleans and lived in California's Bay Area before moving here.
The light of her life is grandson J.P. Oliver. A standout prep football player and 2006 graduate of Cascade High School, J.P. Oliver was raised by Marriam Oliver from infancy. "He's mine," she said. Now a student athlete at Feather River Community College in Northern California, his aim is to play professional football, his grandmother said.
Before games, she said, he'll call to ask, "How many tackles would you like me to make today?" Pride shows on her face and in the pictures of her grandson that hang on Oliver's walls. She'd rather talk about her grandson than about any physical limitations.
"I can cook, and can run around in my chair, and make my bed," she said.
Wright, who performed surgery on Oliver in August, said Wednesday that she had developed a blood clot on her spinal cord. He had hoped the operation would bring back more leg function, Wright said. "Dr. Wright, he is a character, and he's quite a surgeon," she said.
Oliver worked for years as a cook at Seattle's Space Needle before she retired 13 years ago. Sitting home didn't suit her. Soon after retirement, she came to the hospital wanting to help. Along with the waiting room, she volunteers one day a week rocking babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.
"You can only cook so many meals. I needed something besides going to church," she said.
Physical changes have done nothing to lessen Oliver's drive to help people.
"Somebody needs to be there to talk with the families, to hold their hands, to pray with them," she said. "I figured that was my calling."
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
'Christmas Spectacular' benefits food bank
The annual "Christmas Spectacular: The Gift of Music" is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. Admission is a minimum donation of $15 and five nonperishable food items. A benefit for the Volunteers of America Food Bank, the show is hosted by Brian Tracey. Among featured performers are jazz pianist Dehner Franks; opera singers Victor Benedetti and Megan Chenovick; Aubrey Logan of the vocal jazz quartet Syncopation; Broadway performer Chris Clay; dance teacher Eleanor Leight; the Snohomish County Chamber Choir and Everett's Second Baptist Church choir. Marriam Oliver, a volunteer at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, will be honored at the event.
Tickets: 425-258-6766 or at the door.
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