VOLUNTEER FOR CHILDREN
Retired RN still offers her help
Upon retirement after 32 years as a registered nurse for Lee Health, Judith Farley took a few years off but soon realized she missed working in a hospital setting, especially when her daughter became a specialist in pediatric intensive care in Columbus, Ohio. “My daughter, Dr. Loren Farley, started as a volunteer at Lee Memorial Children’s Hospital, prior to it becoming Golisano, and it planted a seed in my head,” says Farley, who has lived in Fort Myers for more than 40 years.
Five years ago, that seed bloomed shortly after Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida opened its doors in 2017 and became a state-of-the art facility. Farley now volunteers twice a week in two parts of the hospital. She walks patients and their families to and from testing and the emergency room on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, she works in the pediatric intensive care unit at the desk and as a roamer, offering help wherever it is needed.
“Having worked in a hospital for so many years, I know too well that the staff can use the extra help,” adds Farley. As the workload intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic, whatever support Farley could offer was even more appreciated by the staff.
“I also get a lot of joy out of helping the staff, the patients, and their families,” says Farley.
Farley believes in the importance of giving back to the community and thinks everyone should do what they can to give back. “For me, it was giving back to the healthcare industry, as I was familiar with it and enjoy working with children,” says Farley, who also has a son, Jared, who is a marriage and family therapist in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
In addition to her work at Golisano, for the past two years Farley has volunteered as a court-appointed guardian ad litem to give voice to children in the foster care system so the courts can hear what’s in their best interests.
In her spare time Farley enjoys growing vegetables and herbs in her back yard, playing pickleball, and spending time with her husband, Jude, who was a Lee County paramedic for 35 years.