NVRH Volunteer Dy Thresher Honored with a Prestigious Points of Light award!

A photographer for AARP takes photos of NVRH volunteers Dy and Tod for an upcoming AARP newsletter spotlight on Dy and her Points of Light Award.

Read the Points of Light article on Dy here!

Award and Points of Light Foundation

In January 1989, President George H.W. Bush’s inaugural address invites the nation to take action through service to their fellow citizens, stating “I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good.” In response, Points of Light Foundation was created in 1990 as an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization to encourage and empower the spirit of service.

According to the Points of Light website, the new nonprofit extended Bush’s vision, quoting the former president: “What government alone can do is limited, but the potential of the American people knows no limits.”

According to the Points of Light website, “Millions of people act on their power to do good every day, using their hearts, hands and minds to help strengthen communities and solve persistent problems. We recognize their individual stories, and lift them up to inspire others so we may each, in our own way, answer the call to make a difference.”

Eligibility and criteria include work that demonstrates real impact while also meeting a community need.

The George H.W. Bush Points of Light Awards Sixth Annual Celebration, which will celebrate recipients’ service and civic engagement, will be October 23, 2024 in Washington, D.C.

NVRH volunteer Dyanna (Dy) Thresher

Thresher, who has served in the United States Navy and then as an army wife, is a respected veteran, provider and friend to all at NVRH.  Dyanna (Dy) Thresher has been a volunteer at NVRH since 2009. In the past 15 years, she has given 7,118 hours of volunteer time, averaging between 40 and 80 hours per month. In the past six years, she has also provided 463 hours of volunteer service time to The Medical Reserve Corp (MRC).

Her duties have included – but are not limited to – performing Reiki on patients and staff; serving as a N95 Fit Tester, screening patients and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic; volunteering at VeggieVanGo, a drive-thru program where the Vermont Foodbank delivers fresh produce on the third Thursday of every month; and registering patients for Red Cross Blood Drives.

Thresher has given 6,013 Reiki sessions to patients and staff at the hospital. She was instrumental in getting the Reiki Program off the ground in 2013 at NVRH and began giving Reiki at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center.  She became the lead trainer for new Reiki providers. The Reiki program expanded from providing patients with Reiki on the Medical Surgical floor, to providing Reiki to most areas of the hospital including the Day Surgery Unit and the Emergency Department. She trained all new Reiki providers and assisted in the development of the program policies, forms and procedures. She has led this team of providers at times, as many as 5 providers were volunteering at NVRH on different days. Reiki has become an integral part of the hospital for both patients and staff and there is little doubt that the program will continue.

Thresher was also an NVRH N95 Fit Tester. She was trained how to operate and administer the Fit Testing equipment to provide the staff of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital fit testing for their N95 masks.  She learned this skill while the hospital was still under the COVID-19 protocols and all 700+ staff members were required to get tested.  She provided many of those tests and had the opportunity to meet staff members that I had never encountered. She helped to augment the staff so they could be free to provide quality patient care. She has Fit Tested new hires over that time as well.

Because NVRH volunteers were not allowed to work at the hospital at one point during the COVID-19 pandemic, Thresher became a member of the Vermont Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). The MRC is a group of volunteers who have healthcare experience. This allowed her to provide her volunteer services, as only MRC volunteers were allowed in the hospital. She was first at the security door, screening employees during COVID-19 protocols. Later she was assigned to the busiest family practice, rooming patients after they were screened. This allowed the staff to have more time with the patients.

Food access is important to Thresher. She volunteers at VeggieVanGo, a drive-thru program where the Vermont Foodbank delivers fresh produce on the third Thursday of every month, and Health Care Share, a farm-to-hospital public health program that connects Vermonters with fresh healthy local food. In fact, Thresher was the first year Health Care Share volunteer.

And if all that hasn’t keep her busy enough, Thresher also provides registration services to the Red Cross Blood Drives that are held at NVRH five to six times a year.

“The many hours that Dy has given to NVRH has truly made a difference,” NVRH Director of Volunteer Services Pat Forest said. “Because of her work and her dedication, staff have been better able to spend quality time with their patients. And that, in turn, creates a sense of calm, of safety, of healing. Staff really have come to depend on her as an integral part of the healthcare team.”

Thresher has received NVRH’s Presidential Lifetime Service Award as well as bronze, silver and gold Presidential Service awards.

“She can be relied upon to be the first one to assist in whatever we need to accomplish as an organization.” Forest added. “She has made the lives of many people better just by being there to help in whatever way she can.”