Volunteer’s ‘Happy Cart’ Brings Smiles to Patients

If his gifts don’t do it, Richard Valente’s smile is sure to bring joy to any of his many  patients that he serves seven days a week.

In his 80s, his sense of humor is still sharp and his generosity endless. For the past year, he worked 363 days consecutively, motivated by a sincere desire to see patients get better.

“I feel like I’m working towards the betterment of mankind,” Valente said. “If we all just help each other, it adds up in a big way.”

For his dedicated service, Valente is this year’s Sequoia Awards “Outstanding Individual. His endless dedication and enthusiastic spirit have been described as “life-changing,” wrote the Sequoia Awards Board of Directors.

“I don’t want accolades,” he said humbly. “I’m just doing my job trying to get people better.”

Every morning at 8:30 a.m., Valente dutifully reports to the hospital and receives his assignments of which patients to visit.

Each visit may only take a few minutes, but the items on Valente’s “Happy Cart” full of newspapers and goodies make each visit special to the patient. He puts personalized thought into each patient’s gift and he re-stocks the cart on his own dime and time.

He purchases necessities that others may take for granted, like deodorant, reading glasses or hairbrushes, that aren’t provided by the hospital.

“Women always feel better when they can comb her hair,” he laughed. “It’s these little things that make them feel more comfortable, especially when some of them feel like they’re trapped in a jail.”

Simply by talking with patients so frequently, he got the sense that patients were longing to watch the San Francisco Giants 2010 in their championship bed. So he requested that the hospital sponsor the Giants so patients could watch the games on their television. 

He recalled some of the more interesting gifts, a much-craved hamburger for a patient despite certain dietary restrictions and specific magazine issues of Teen Vogue.

“The mailman probably thought I was a pedophile subscribing to this!” he laughed.

But Valente will strive to bring patients almost anything, even if that requires becoming a personal shopping buddy. Once Valente finished his shift, he honored a woman’s request and made the trek to Mervyn’s to select a suitable outfit for her.

And Valente knows fashion. He estimates he has 73 sweaters in his collection.

“[Valente] does have a lot of sweaters,” noted Joanie Cavanaugh,director of marketing and communications for the hospital. “He’s always dressed to a T.”

But Valente is more concerned about making the staff feel like they’re the best-dressed employees in the entire building.

“He’s always telling us how beautiful we look each day,” Cavanaugh said. “It really makes your morning.”

Popular with the staff, Valente can’t walk down the hall without being greeted or high-fived. He also stocks up his cart with gifts for the nurses. Ever the gentleman, Valente has a drawer filled with Valentine’s Day candy for the many women in his life.

Staff said it’s hard to imagine Valente not at the hospital, and they were worried when he wasn’t at the hospital for two days. Nurses were calling his home line trying to locate him.

Though he’s a fixture now, Valente said he never used to volunteer before his stint at Sequoia Hospital. He worked at Pacific Sun Railroad as a manager of special equipment for years before retiring.

It wasn’t until his wife died in June 2004 that he found himself longing for something to do, something fulfilling. So he applied for a volunteer position with the hospital and was immediately accepted. And to this day he’s been working more days than he ever had at the railroad company.

“I hope to never see you again!” Valente would joke as patients exited the hospital.

But patients would never wish such unfortunate luck for themselves.

“I know I’ll see them again someday at the supermarket or somewhere,” Valente said. “Even if I don’t remember their name, I’ll remember their face.”

And patients will rarely forget the generosity of Valente and his happy cart.

The Sequoia Awards will be held at the  on Thursday, March 8 at 6 p.m. For tickets, contact Deanna Dooley at 650-369-7217. Valente joins a group of distinguished individuals, like the 2011 winner .

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