St. Joseph’s Hospital-South volunteer Roger Munsinger of Ruskin can often be seen zipping around on the hospital’s campus on a golf cart transporting passengers. The passengers are hospital visitors or medical office building patients and visitors on campus for appointments.
It wasn’t always that way. Three years ago, Roger saw a problem: there were no golf carts. People had a long walk back and forth from the hospital’s expansive parking lots and buildings. So, Roger decided to fix the problem, and he graciously donated two golf carts to the hospital to shuttle passengers. He donated the carts in memory of his mother and had each cart named for his mother and father to tell them apart. Roger said his mother would have wanted it this way. Each parent’s names are on the respective carts along with Roger’s name.
Roger, who has been an original volunteer with the hospital since it opened in 2015, got the idea for the golf cart shuttles after seeing them being used in a hospital in Oklahoma.
“I thought it was necessary,” said Roger, who is originally from Oklahoma but retired to Florida after spending 35 years in New York as a product manager. “I thought it would be nice and a good idea to take people back and forth from the parking lot. The parking lot is a long way out there.”
“Roger is generous and has a good heart,” said Kim Wallace, St. Joseph Hospital-South’s volunteer manager. “He’s always trying to figure out how to make things easier for people here. He started our golf cart service. He takes a lot of pride in what he does.”
Wallace said Roger maintains the carts in good condition and has added features like rear-view mirrors and side rails.
“We appreciate Roger for what he’s done,” Kim said.
When asked if people ever put two and two together when reading his hospital ID name badge and seeing his name on the golf carts, Roger said, “Occasionally, but not often.”
Learn more about St. Joseph’s Hospital-South at www.baycare.org/hospitals/st-josephs-hospital-south. The hospital is located at 6901 Simmons Loop in Riverview.
