He's a pick-up man: Steve Miller wins Lakewood Ranch Medical Center Volunteer of the Year award

Steve Miller has a schedule. 

If you’ve ever been to the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, you might be familiar with it yourself. 

For two days a week, almost every week, for the last 15 years, Miller has headed to the center to volunteer his time. Some days he mans the center’s front desk and guides patients and family members where to go. Other times, the 77-year-old retiree drives the center’s shuttle and carts guests back and forth from the parking lot to the entrance.

His schedule has one other constant — his ever-present, lasting smile.

“I always smile, it’s very effective” Miller said. “Somebody can come in looking other-than-smiley, and you can smile at them and you’ll crack them … it’s a trick.”

While he's never done any of this work for a reward, he’s received one anyway. Miller is the reigning Lakewood Ranch Medical Center’s Volunteer of the Year, named this past April at the hospital's volunteer luncheon at the Lakewood Ranch Country Club.

Miller is a people person — the retired business owner said he always has loved meeting new people and adding some laughter to people’s days. He retired in Lakewood Ranch and decided to volunteer at the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center when it opened in 2004. He said he lived close by and it was a good fit. 

“I thought it would be a good way to give back, as they say,” Miller said. “I started over in the women’s center originally because a lot of this wasn’t even here yet. As time moved along, I move over to the front desk.”

He’s enjoyed seeing the center grow and change since its humble origins. 

“It seemed like the timing was perfect (to volunteer),” Miller said. “And it was. It’s been a nice growth pattern to witness.”

When the center started forming its Courtesy Shuttle program, which carts guests from the parking lot to medical center and back, Miller was the first to volunteer around six months ago. 

It wasn’t a case of teaching an old dog a new trick — Miller was an avid golfer in his day and took to driving the shuttle like a fish to water. He finds it relaxing and as a way to learn more about people. 

“If you see someone that needs help with a walker or cane, you get to them quickly,” he said. “And they just so appreciate it — that’s your pay right there.”

For Miller, all of this is personal — exactly as it should be. Some of his favorite memories are working with other volunteers.

It’s simply a matter of ideology. To Miller, there are volunteers who come in to waste time, and there are those who come in to help. He said he likes to be the kind of person who helps. 

Miller is winding down his time with the medical center — he recently moved to North Port and will have less time to volunteer — but you’ll still be able to catch him at the front desk, welcoming people with a smile. 

“You make a lot of friends at the hospital,” he said. “You’re only here four to eight hours, but you make friends. The front desk is a great place to be.”