CommunityHealth shines the Volunteer Spotlight on Margaret Bavis!
Each December, CommunityHealth hosts our Volunteer of the Year Awards, which spotlights our most outstanding volunteers. Considering the incredible work that our volunteers do every day providing care to our patients, it can be difficult to define “outstanding”, but we see it in many different forms – excellence, respect, collaboration. All are essential components of a CH volunteer, and we see them reflected throughout the clinic in each of our 1,000+ volunteers.
The Ilene Goodman award goes one step further, to recognize those who truly go above and beyond in every facet of their service to CommunityHealth and our patients.
Ilene Goodman and her husband Milton were active volunteers with CommunityHealth almost from the very beginning. The Goodman’s volunteered at the clinic once a week, every week, for many years. Ilene often supported the Front Desk team, and could be found in the lounge, where she would organize medical records (in the days of paper charts!) for the clinic.
It wasn’t just the number of hours Ilene contributed that set her apart, though – it was her attitude. She was “the quintessential volunteer,” recalled CommunityHealth Medical Director, Dr. Babs Waldman. Ilene’s warm and welcoming nature showed in her relationships with the staff and other volunteers. She knew almost everyone who came through the clinic and built deep connections with many of them.
Most of all, Ilene was always willing to step in and do whatever was needed in that moment. Emily Hendel, CommunityHealth’s Director of Clinical Services, said that no task was too big or too small for Ilene – she was always asking “what more can I do?”
Each year, our staff comes together to select a volunteer who embodies the ethos of “what more can I do?” In 2024, it was the right time to recognize one of the pillars of the community we have built at the clinic: Dr. Margaret Bavis.
Margaret has been seeing patients at CommunityHealth since February of 2014, and has given a massive 7,100 hours of service in her years here. As an Assistant Professor at Rush University College of Nursing, she helped to establish our first and only Nurse Practitioner training program, which continues to this day. Every Monday and Wednesday you will find Margaret and her students in the back clinic seeing patients, as she has done for over 11 years!
Even after all this time, Margaret continues to bring her passion for patient-centered care and love of teaching to every shift. Her students consistently give glowing reviews of her precepting, and she can often be found consulting with other volunteer providers on their patients. In the past few years, she has also taken on a leading role in expanding CommunityHealth’s partnership with Rush. Her enthusiastic endorsement of our model and the value it brings to teaching future healthcare professionals has made her a powerful advocate and friend.
Though most of Margaret’s service has been in a teaching capacity, she took on the volunteer role of mobile health provider during the summer of 2023, when CommunityHealth was helping with the frontline response to the migrant crisis in Chicago. Her work triaging new arrivals only showed the depth of her care for her patients and her community.
CommunityHealth sat down with Margaret to learn more about what quality health care for all means to her…
In a few sentences, tell us more about yourself and your background.
“I am a Family Nurse Practitioner and Assistant Professor with Rush University College of Nursing. I have a bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology from Tufts University and my nursing degrees (bachelorette and doctorate) from Rush University.”
Why and how did you begin volunteering at CommunityHealth?
“I started at CH in January 2014 to help establish a new partnership between CH and Rush College of Nursing. This partnership was established to create a training opportunity for NP students.”
Do you remember your first day? What surprised you?
“What surprised me was how much CH has to offer to patients. Initially, I was expecting a typical free clinic with limited resources and a medication closet but instead found a fully functioning health center with pharmacy, laboratory, dental, social work and health education.”
What has kept you volunteering all this time?
“CommunityHealth is my happy place. The work that we do is an example of how health care should be and why I came into the profession. We are able to be patient-centered and patient-focused, providing expansive services that cater to the needs of our patients. At CH, patients are truly at the center of everything.”
What is something you have learned from volunteering?
“First and foremost, I have learned Spanish. I was not a Spanish speaker prior to coming to CH and started to learn from my time with our amazing interpreters and patients. More importantly, I have learned the power of an idea and innovation. CH was the idea of Dr. Garella more than 30 years ago that grew into our expansive health center. During the pandemic, I witnessed the idea grow more exponentially under Steph Willding with her leadership and innovation, expanding the health center to include microsites and creative solutions to longstanding clinical problems (expanding to Telehealth, recruiting interpreters from around the world, delivering medications to patients’ homes). I have been inspired and humbled to be part of this organization.”
What has been your biggest takeaway from CommunityHealth, and how does this impact your other life or career goals?
“I have found my home at CH. It has forever changed how I think about health care, innovation and what can be done. My goal is to bring as many students as possible into CH so that the next generation of clinicians can have this foundation and vision for patient care.”
How has working with CommunityHealth influenced your perception of health care?
“CH has allowed me to embrace innovation in health care and restored my faith in providing patient centered care.”
What advice would you give to a new volunteer with CommunityHealth?
“My advice to a new volunteer is to get as involved as you can in all different parts of the organization. Take advantage of the opportunities to meet exciting and engaged individuals. And remember, the most important person is the patient in front of you. Take a moment to really honor the opportunity to be a person who can make a positive impact on someone’s life.”
Outside of volunteering with CommunityHealth, how do you like to spend your free time?
“I love yoga and my peloton (thanks Steph!) I also enjoy baking, reading and watching rom-coms with my youngest son Theo.”
What is your favorite book or movie?
“So many favorite books: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Between Two Kingdoms, Americanah, Demon Copperhead.”
What is your favorite Holiday and how to you like to celebrate?
“Halloween, I love making outrageous skeleton decorations on my front lawn and having my friends over for our annual chili dinner!”
Health care providers, both clinical and nonclinical, devoted to quality health care for all are encouraged to apply.