By Genevieve Wanucha
Tonya Clegg is the Volunteer Services Manager at Harborview Medical Center. She oversees a small department with a big job: coordinating all volunteer opportunities at the public hospital, a comprehensive medical care and surgical facility with a Designated Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center.
Volunteers support Harborview in various ways, including visiting and assisting patients, staffing the information desks, and caring for the hospital’s public art collection. Beyond the busy clinical space, Tonya helps secure volunteers to assist at the Memory Hub, a dementia-friendly community center operated by the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center.
“Every volunteer brings value,” says Tonya. "Everyone knows they're going to get good patient care at Harborview. But volunteers add that extra layer of care and empathy and that little bit of 'extra something' that medical professionals don't necessarily have the time for. Volunteers elevate the patient experience. They make it that much better. That's invaluable to us, and it's invaluable to our community.”
When Tonya started her position at the end of February 2025, she saw a lot of work to be done. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Volunteer Services Department furloughed its employees and temporarily shut down the office. Harborview lost its base of volunteers who were not on a pathway to a medical profession...Read the article [thememoryhub.org].