Before their employee badges said doctor or nurse or administrator in the Carle Health system, they were volunteering to escort patients to procedures, bringing the day’s newspaper to a hospital floor, wiping down exam tables and filling water pitchers in patient rooms.
Many already had a hunch that sciences or medicine may be part of their path, but the free time they chose to give as a hospital volunteer, immersed in the day-to-day experience of healthcare cemented their career interest.
Eric Toliver, MBA, director, Volunteer Services, said, “It is very meaningful to hear these stories and how volunteer programs in our various regions impact career decisions and the desire to make a difference by being part of our healthcare community. We are so appreciative of the time our volunteers give and feel fortunate to have an opportunity to be part of their journey.”
Today, Jill Dodaro, MSN, MBA, is chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services for the west region of Carle Healt
h, but her path started as a volunteer behind the handles of a wheelchair.
Growing up in rural Brimfield, she was seeking a week to “dip her tow” into the world of medicine and she found it at Methodist Hospital in Peoria where she and a high school friend spent their summer break as volunteer patient escorts giving patients their final ride home at discharge and moving lab samples across the facility.
“I remember watching the families as they exited the building,” Dodaro said. “I saw the deep, immediate bonds they had built with the nursing staff in such a short time. That level of gratitude and vulnerability was moving. It drew me in because I realized I didn’t just want a job in healthcare; I wanted to be that positive light for someone on their hardest day.”
Decades later, Dodaro’s mission remains rooted in those early summer shifts. “That human connection is a relationship you can’t find in most careers,” she says. “It’s what brought me in then, and it’s what drives how I serve our nursing teams today.”
At Carle Richland Memorial Hospital in Olney, Tanner Miller, MD, medical director, volunteered as part of the Auxiliary while he was in college. The first in his family to choose a career in medicine, Dr. Miller knew he wanted to study medicine before volunteering, yet the experience had a profound effect.
"It creates a new appreciation for everyone from the cleaning crew to the providers and how every single person impacts patient care,” Dr. Miller said.
He still distinctly recalls delivering celebratory flowers to a mother who just gave birth and seeing the joy that filled her room. “Seeing everyone so happy, I felt like a participant that contributed to that happiness through the simple act of delivering flowers.”
It was a different era when Karen Langley started out as a “candy striper” volunteer at what was then Eureka Hospital more than 50 years ago. As a teen she wore a red and white striped pinafore over a white dress and shortly thereafter became a CNA (certified nursing assistant).
Langley enjoyed interacting with people and she distinctly recalls how the man who operated the gas station across the street would leave his one-person shop and help transfer patients on stretchers from the operating room on the first floor of the old Eureka Hospital up to the second floor admitting space. “Everybody knew him.”
After 45 years of working at Eureka, Langley came full circle and today you will see her volunteering at the front desk of Carle Eureka Hospital.
At Carle BroMe
nn Medical Center in Normal, Shea Whittle, RN, Cardiovascular Services, knew she wanted to be the first nurse in her family so she sought volunteering opportunities where she interacted with patients.
“I started volunteering to give back to my community and never expected to gain so many opportunities in return. I fell in love with it,” Whittle said. At Carle Health, she volunteered at the outpatient center during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 asking people if they had any symptoms of COVID-19.
“Not only are you giving back as a volunteer, but it opens so many opportunities for you. Plus, it looks phenomenal on a resume,” Whittle said.
Tanner Israel, PA, Emergency Department, Carle Foundation Hospital, volunteered in the postpartum unit answering phones, delivering water to patients and transferring babies from the newborn nursery to awaiting parents while a freshman at the University of Illinois pre-med program.
“Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community and learn about medicine before you are ready to fully commit to a degree in medicine,” he said. After completing his undergraduate degree, Israel worked as an assistant manager in a retail store, followed by five years in human resources at Carle Health before returning to the hospital as an emergency tech and his current role.
Across the Carle Health system in 2025, more than 2,300 volunteers contributed over 210,000 hours of their personal time to support patient care needs and we could not do that without them.
Categories: Culture of Quality, Community
Tags: Carle BroMenn Medical Center, Carle Foundation Hospital, Carle Health Methodist Hospital, Carle Health Pekin Hospital, Carle Richland Memorial Hospital, Volunteer, volunteers