TAMC now welcomes inpatients
with Fred’s Friendly Flowers
Staying at TAMC has become a brighter experience thanks to a new patient welcome program,
Fred’s Friendly Flowers.
Every new inpatient at TAMC’s A. R. Gould
Memorial Hospital now receives a special gift - a
sprig of flowers - from the hospital to add some
color to their stay and to remind them that TAMC
is more than a hospital.
The idea came from a longtime volunteer and
a very familiar face at TAMC, Fred Lyford.
“He’s a true example of volunteerism.
He has a lot of passion,” said TAMC’s
volunteer, guest relations and gift shop
manager, Sherry Beaulieu, about Fred.
Lyford was a medic in the U.S. Army,
so it makes sense that he was drawn to
hospitals when he began looking
for something to keep him
occupied when his wife passed
away. He began volunteering
at a hospital in Millinocket
before he started to offer his
“If you can get a
patient to smile,
they’re on their
way to healing,
and boy I found
that to be true.”
Fred Lyford
TAMC Volunteer
time at TAMC more than 21 years ago. Since
then, he has become something of a fixture at the
Presque Isle hospital and his bedside manner is
infamous. He has an infectious smile and truly
finds joy in making other people feel happy.
“If you can get a patient to smile, they’re on
their way to healing, and boy I found that to be
true,” said Lyford. “I have to have something to
do, and it has to be active. Where else can you
have so much fun?”
It was during a conversation between Lyford
and Beaulieu about his time volunteering in
Millinocket that he mentioned a similar program
the hospital had in place for its patients. In
addition to her full-time job at TAMC, Beaulieu
also volunteers as a co-chair of one of the service
excellence teams for patient satisfaction and
recovery. She took the idea to her team, and
everyone was instantly on board. In fact, every
step of the way, as the team presented the idea to
nurses and to administration, TAMC staff
embraced the idea.
“This has been a year in planning, making
sure we have all the ducks in a row. It’s a TAMCwide effort when it comes to patient care and
services, and we have to work in unison,” said
Beaulieu. “This idea is for improving patient
satisfaction and creating an overall ‘wow’ for our
patients - something meaningful, tangible that
they can take home. We felt it was worth it. It’s
not about the price; it’s about the gesture.”
The premise of the idea is simple. Each morning, Monday through Friday, Lyford personally
delivers the sprigs of flowers to new admissions
that the patient can enjoy in his or her room for
the duration of the stay and then take home upon
discharge. Beaulieu said she expects approximately 50 deliveries per week, or 2,600 deliveries for
the year.
Fred’s Friendly Flowers