Processed By Colour Factory 13/09/2012 2:27:27 PMChannel: 3a_FCN_NSW_EDITORIAL_Newsprint_18.6cm_CMYK
DULCIE Harrison has been treasurer of the Mount Druitt Hospital auxiliary since it was formed in 1973.
The auxiliary runs the gift shop and has held countless fund-raisers for the hospital, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next month.
The auxiliary lobbied for a polyclinic to ease the pressure on nearby Nepean and Blacktown before the community's wish for a hospital was granted.
Mrs Harrison has vivid memories of October 11, 1982, when the Queen opened the hospital.
"There were crowds everywhere and schoolchildren in the streets," she said.
"My mother met the Queen, who asked what she did at the hospital.
"In those days, the hospital was regarded as a jewel in the crown for western Sydney," she said.
It remains that way for Mrs Harrison, despite the services it has lost over the years.
"It's sensible to have some things at Mount Druitt and others at Blacktown," she said. "The hospitals have to work together."
She estimated the auxiliary had raised $700,000 for equipment over the years.
On top of running the gift shop, volunteers knit items for the shop and sell them once at month at Plumpton Marketplace.
The auxiliary hopes to resume its monthly St Clair stall in the new year.
Mrs Harrison received an OAM in this Queen's Birthday Honours for her dedication to the hospital and has no intention of stepping down.
"Nobody wants the job," she joked. "I'm 75 but I don't feel it."