Some dogs can do so much more than fetch a bone; some can help others in need. Nellie is a 11-year-old Collie, and a volunteer at The Ottawa Hospital. With some help from her handler, Claire Laroche, Nellie frequently visits The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, hoping to help lift patients’ spirits.

For 30 years, Dr. Les Melamed read research proposals and asked himself, “If I were a patient, would I want to be part of this study?” As a volunteer community representative on the Ottawa Health Science Network Research Ethics Board, Dr. Melamed helped weigh the benefits and risks of research proposals involving patients or their data.

Winners never quit – rather, they find ways to adjust to a new lifestyle, to a new normal. Erin Murphy, who won The Ottawa Hospital’s Excellence Award for Outstanding Volunteer this year, has done just that since a collision left him with catastrophic injuries.

For the past 18 years, Familiar Faces Engraving – a trophy shop in Ottawa – has quietly offered volunteer opportunities to people from The Ottawa Hospital’s Robin Easey Centre, who are recovering from brain injuries and looking to return to the workforce.

Mike Soloski wanted to do meaningful, hands-on volunteer work in his retirement, and he found his niche at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre. “This was the place where I felt as though, if I need to do some payback, here’s where it’s supposed to be.”

For several years, retirees Pat Porter and Doris Reed have donated their time and money to deliver in-demand items like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, new underwear and clean used clothing to the Civic Campus Emergency Department.