Whether it is an extra shift or a new assignment, she's one of the volunteers we can always count on. A very special person, she is smart and capable and always follows through,” Howard said. “Her faithful, long-term service at the clinic helps us be there for people in need.” Said Ryan: “I like people. That is a central core of my being. I think you ought to give back. The Golden Rule gets you ahead — you treat people well and you get treated well.” In addition to volunteering at the clinic, Ryan shares her talents with the Furniture Bank. At the Congregational Church of Birmingham, she is chairperson of the Board of Fellowship. She also serves as treasurer of her neighborhood block association. Even in her leisure moments, Ryan usually has a crochet or knitting project in progress. As an admitted news lover, while watching TV, she creates beautiful baby afghans or chemo caps. She donates the afghans to the Furniture Bank and the chemo caps to the Josephine Ford Cancer Center. The pattern of service to others began early. The day after she and her husband married, they reported for training at UCLA for the Peace Corps. They served as teachers in Ethiopia, teaching at the junior high level. They were valued dignitaries in the community. Some students came from distant villages to school. Two of these young people lived in a storage room in the Ryans' apartment. Ryan treasures her memories of this time.
Ethiopia RPCV Margaret Ryan recently received the Good Samaritan Award for her years as volunteer physician and pharmacy technician
A ‘Good Samaritan' enriches community
April 19, 2009
By Diane K. Bert
CORRESPONDENT
Caption: Margaret Ryan has a collection of Coptic crosses from her days as a Peace Corps worker in Ethiopia. These crosses are symbols of early Ethiopian Christianity. The necklace she is wearing is also a Coptic cross.
“She has a way of pulling people together and giving of herself. She is a wonderfully generous person.”
This is the way Sr. Mary Ellen Howard, executive director of the Cabrini Clinic, describes Dr. Margaret Ryan, volunteer at the clinic. Ryan recently received the Good Samaritan Award for her years as volunteer physician and pharmacy technician at the clinic. After Ryan retired from her job in internal medicine in 1998, she did not renew her license and has served as a pharmacy technician since then.
“Whether it is an extra shift or a new assignment, she's one of the volunteers we can always count on. A very special person, she is smart and capable and always follows through,” Howard said. “Her faithful, long-term service at the clinic helps us be there for people in need.”
Said Ryan: “I like people. That is a central core of my being. I think you ought to give back. The Golden Rule gets you ahead — you treat people well and you get treated well.”
In addition to volunteering at the clinic, Ryan shares her talents with the Furniture Bank. At the Congregational Church of Birmingham, she is chairperson of the Board of Fellowship. She also serves as treasurer of her neighborhood block association.
Even in her leisure moments, Ryan usually has a crochet or knitting project in progress. As an admitted news lover, while watching TV, she creates beautiful baby afghans or chemo caps. She donates the afghans to the Furniture Bank and the chemo caps to the Josephine Ford Cancer Center.
The pattern of service to others began early. The day after she and her husband married, they reported for training at UCLA for the Peace Corps. They served as teachers in Ethiopia, teaching at the junior high level. They were valued dignitaries in the community. Some students came from distant villages to school. Two of these young people lived in a storage room in the Ryans' apartment. Ryan treasures her memories of this time.
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Returning to the United States, she worked a few years while her husband obtained a doctorate from Columbia. The Ryans' son, Andrew, was born during these years. Ryan had majored in math at the University of Michigan. Preparing for entry into medical school, she took additional pre-med courses, entered medical school and graduated from the University of Wisconsin.
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Ryan's residency at Beaumont Hospital brought her and her family back to Birmingham. This was a return to her home area, as she had graduated from Seaholm High School years earlier. She retired from her practice in 1998 and increased her time volunteering in the community.
An avid traveller, Ryan has visited Africa, India, China, Central and South America, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. She enjoys learning about different cultures and sightseeing.
Coming home from her travels, she looks forward to returning to her Birmingham neighborhood. “It's an exceptional place where people really care about one another and extend helping hands,” she says.
Diane K. Bert is a free-lance writer and former educator. She lives in Bloomfield Township.
