RUHS Foundation’s Ardith Turner to Retire

Ardith Turner, RUHS Foundation Volunteer Services Coordinator, is retiring after more than 14 years.

Ardith Turner, an RUHS Foundation employee who introduced numerous volunteers to RUHS - Medical Center for more than 14 years, is set to retire at the end of the month. Her hard work and dedication will be celebrated with a retirement party.  

Turner, the foundation’s Volunteer Services Coordinator, not only works to process and place new volunteers in roles throughout the hospital, she also oversees the process that allows students and beginner medical professionals to shadow RUHS providers. Additionally, Turner manages the Foundation-run gift shop popular with RUHS employees.  

Turner’s retirement party will take place from 11 a.m. to noon Wednesday, July 23 in Magnolia Rooms C and D at the RUHS Education Building.  

Turner’s role as volunteer services coordinator began in 2010 after selling her flower shop of 30 years to travel with her husband. They began to travel at least a little bit, “but God had other plans for us,” Turner said.  

“My husband was diagnosed with cancer of the brain and lungs, and he was only around for about two months after that,” she said. “So there I was: I was out of the flower shop, and I was home. And I had been working since I was 12 years old, and that was just too much time on my hands.”  

A friend of Turner’s recommended she volunteer at RUHS, so she did. She would later become an office assistant in the volunteer office and, when the Volunteer Services Coordinator position became available, transitioned into that role.  

In her day to day, Turner helps prospective volunteers get their start. She handles their paperwork, guides them through background checks and Moodle trainings, and then puts them in areas of the hospital that match their interests.  

She goes through a similar process for people — usually current or prospective medical school students — who want to shadow providers.  

When she’s not welcoming in new faces, Turner helps supervise staff at the highly successful gift shop, which sells clothing items, snacks, candy and various sundries.  

Turner says the promise of more family time is why she will retire after 14 years. She’s excited to spend more quality time with grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live in the area.  

The impact of Turner’s legacy is visible all throughout the Medical Center. She said she sees many of the volunteers who started with her. Many of those individuals are now employees working in locations such as the lab, radiology and various care units.  

“They’ve gone through the volunteer process with me since I started and now, they’re gainfully employed here — and they’re good employees,” she said. 

For more information on Turner’s retirement, see this flyer.