SALEM — Two Lynn residents — Carol Dullea, 77, and Mary Ellen Tobey, 65 — have spent decades volunteering for a medical center that has undergone quite a few name changes, but is now known as Salem Hospital. 

Their commitment to health administration, management, and radiology even after their official retirement made them recognizable across the North Shore community. The pair now wants to share their story for April’s National Volunteer Month.  

Dullea first volunteered for the former Union Hospital as a “candy striper” in 1956. At the time, she said, the term “candy striper” was not even in use yet and the trademark pink-and-white-striped uniform was not adopted for the volunteers, so Dullea and her friends wore white lab coats.  

“When I did it, they were just starting the program of teenage volunteers,” said Dullea. 

Although the volunteers did not get paid, Dullea was excited about the work she did for several hours at least once a week for about two years. She said her mother was a medical secretary at Lynn Hospital, and Dullea also always wanted to work in that field.  

“My friends were volunteering, and it sounded like fun,” said Dullea, who also mentioned that her mother thought the position would be a good introduction for her daughter to see if she liked being in the hospital. Dullea soon realized that she did not want to be a nurse.

“Then I went into that non-clinical part of hospital work,” she said.  

She worked as a floor secretary at Lynn Hospital for two summers while in high school, she said, and soon realized that it was what she wanted to do. 

She later went to Fisher College and got an associate degree in secretarial science. While in college, Dullea started to work weekends at the radiology department at Lynn Hospital. The doctors liked her, she said, and they accommodated her schedule. 

In 1964, when she was about to graduate, an administrative secretary at the radiology department retired and Dullea was offered the job. She was working in that position part-time when she got married and had a family.

“Family came first,” said Dullea.

In 1978, after her children went to school, Dullea started to work full-time for the emergency department and stayed there “ever since,” as she put it, until her retirement in 2015. 

“Carol has always been connected to the Lynn community, always been connected to a hospital,” said Janet Talbot, Salem Hospital’s volunteer services manager.  

Mary Ellen Tobey, who was educated at Northeastern University, started her career as an X-ray technologist at the former Union Hospital in the early 1980s. She moved out of the area for a bit, but when she returned she worked at Salem Hospital until her retirement in 2021. 

“The field of medicine just always interested me,” Tobey said. “And I loved radiology.” 

She also loved her patients, which was partly why, in the 2000s, she got an offer to move to a health-management position. 

“And from there I also worked a lot with patient satisfaction,” said Tobey. “Always trying to put the patient first.” 

“Her management experience makes her an exceptional volunteer,” said Talbot about Tobey. 

After retiring, both Dullea and Tobey volunteered for the Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC) for Salem Hospital. Dullea is also with PFAC for North Shore Physicians Group. And Tobey also served as a eucharistic minister for the hospital’s chapel. 

Dullea said she advocated to make a hospital stay better for the patients and their families, while Tobey mentioned that she loved staying connected to the hospital, its people and patients.  

Tobey recalled that once, while sitting in a waiting room at another facility and seeing her cellphone battery drain, she remembered how Salem Hospital, when designing the new Emergency Department’s waiting room, had installed USB plugs by the seats for patient and family use. 

“It’s the little things that Salem Hospital does and how they listen to patient and family feedback that makes me proud to be associated with this facility, especially as a member of the PFAC,” Tobey said.

“I didn’t retire until I was 71, so I must have liked it,” Dullea said. 

She said that she loved her job because she could learn a lot of new things as health care evolved over time. 

“It’s so rewarding to see,” Dullea said. 

Both Dullea and Tobey also volunteer outside of Salem Hospital. Dullea volunteers at the local COVID-19 vaccine clinic, supports the staff of New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus, is a lector at St. Pius V Church in Lynn and is also a speaker for New England Donor Services where she promotes organ donations. 

Tobey does volunteer work for the local schools and for St. Pius V Church. They continue to stay involved in local community life even though they are retired. 

Salem Hospital’s name has changed over the years due to administrative changes. What is now known as Salem Hospital under Mass General Brigham at different times used to be Lynn Hospital, Union Hospital, and the North Shore Medical Center.