Luanne Townsend

Luanne Townsend has been a volunteer at Nashville Memorial Hospital, now Skyline Medical Center for thirty-eight years, providing more than 26,000 hours working in the gift shop, most of those years as the primary buyer.

The gift shop is the primary funding source for all the patient, family and community projects and Luanne approaches her job with the same dedication as a direct patient care volunteer. Her personal mission is to ensure that Skyline Gift Shoppe is the best hospital gift shop in the state and she always looks for ways to increase the profit margin and better meet the needs of the patients we serve.

Luanne has a sincere interest in people and their needs. She goes out of her way to ask their needs and meet those requests. She is a wonderful spokesperson and representative for the volunteer auxiliary, both in the hospital and in the community. In these past seven years she has dealt with cancer, suffered a fall while at the hospital that resulted in two broken knees and experienced a number of family losses. Yet, her dedication to the hospital and her community is the element which sustains her and helps her grow as an individual and a volunteer.

Luanne has spunk, spirit and a giving heart. She represents the philosophy of service without desire for recognition. She has provided year after year of dedicated service to the hospital staff as well as the patients and their families.