Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU public media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name is Douglas Gorton, retired, even though I'm not fond of that term, I prefer to say I'm a volunteer and that I give as much of my time as I can to other people. Unpaid compensation for me is much better and greater and the satisfaction much more than when I was working for money, which sounds sort of crass. If you can get to the point where you don't need that and you go into volunteer work, there's a lot more satisfaction out of doing things for other people. I think it's been my calling. I have done a lot of work for elder care services, the private company that does meals on wheels. I did that for a while. Telehasse Memorial Hospital. I volunteer with them every Friday in the Heart and Vascular Center, which is personally meaningful to me because I had open heart surgery 11 years ago now. So I'd like to be an inspiration to other people and I see patients that come in, I check them in. But if there's one thing I could only do, it would be my work as an ombudsman, which is part of the State Department of Elder Affairs. It's staffed with all volunteers. We go out and basically investigate any complaints that are made from family members or from residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. For unpaid satisfaction, that's the way to go, especially if you're comfortable being in nursing homes and around the elderly. Any impact, favorable impact I can have on them means a lot. To me and I know, I hope it means a lot to them. Being generous and trying to be self-less is the key to happiness. My name is Douglas Gorton and I encourage everyone to be giving people and to volunteer in the service of others. You're listening to voices that inspire.