McLeod Regional Medical Center has named Jerry Aiken as the Volunteer of the Year for 2013. The announcement was made during the annual McLeod Volunteer Recognition Luncheon held January 31 at the Florence Country Club.

Aiken is the 26th recipient of the McLeod Volunteer of the Year honor.

Marilyn Godbold, Director of Volunteer Services for McLeod, explained during her introduction of the Volunteer of the Year, that Aiken is volunteer that exceeds all expectations. "For 22 years, Jerry has been a faithful and dedicated volunteer donating more than 6,500 hours to the medical center. He came to us to be a part of our Cuddle program which was a service in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) – comforting the sick and small infants. He was later approached about helping with the Hearing Testing of the babies in the NICU and agreed to help. He became certified to operate the equipment and learned how to read the results.

"The McLeod Gift Shops have also benefited from Jerry’s talents. Over the years, Jerry has repaired, rebuilt, repainted and restored countless items that came in broken or were broken by a customer or staff. His work is amazing to the point that you cannot tell the item was ever broken," added Godbold.

The Volunteer of the Year award was also renamed this year to honor Buddy Huntley who passed away in 2013. A previous Volunteer of the Year honoree, Huntley dedicated 20 years of volunteer service to McLeod in numerous capacities including as President of the Volunteer Auxiliary.

In addition to the announcement of the Buddy Huntley Volunteer of the Year Award, more than 200 of the 265 volunteers who contribute outstanding service to McLeod Regional Medical Center were in attendance during the luncheon. All total these volunteers contributed nearly 40,000 hours to the medical center in 2013. During the luncheon, certificates and pins were also presented to volunteers who have given more than 1,000 hours of service to the hospital and honored all those with more than 50 hours of service.

McLeod Health honors its volunteers annually by presenting service awards to recognize their special efforts and outstanding contributions.