National Volunteer Week is upon us and across the nation volunteers are honored for all that they do for their community.

Volunteer Director Susan Crowe says that volunteers are always welcome and appreciated at local hospitals like Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Hospital. "The volunteers are a crucial part of the hospital network that we have. Actually the hospital could not run without the volunteers just because there are so many positions that they cover."

With so many positions to cover, volunteer coordinators do their very best to find the perfect fit for every volunteer. For Sandy Colonna it's distributing the File of Life. "You fill out the form, which has all the pertinent information on it, your doctors, any family members, your medication, any medical problems you have, conditions, you fill it out and then you put that in here and then you put that on your refrigerator."

Sandy says that the file of life comes with a sticker that gets put on your front door, if emergency services are called to your home and see it, they know to grab that information from your refrigerator. "I love volunteering, it's very important to get the message out there."

Well, let me let you in on a secret most people don't know, not only do volunteers feel better about themselves for their actions but they also have a direct pass to heaven - but that's just between you and I.

For more information volunteering at a hospital contact Volunteer Services at 239-939-8636.