Woman volunteers at Saint Agnes for 20 years

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- When people walk into Saint Agnes Outpatient Surgery North her face is the first one they see.

For the last 20 years, 83-year-old Pat Frey has been the helping staff and patients.

She's retired, but over the years she has volunteered an estimated 15,000 hours.

"I don't know I like it, that's why I'm still doing it I guess," said Frey.

Her day starts before the sun even rises. Four days out of the week she can be found in the office at 5 a.m., working hand-in-hand with her supervisor Candi Cortez.

"Pat I would say is like a grandmother to me, she is just so sweet and so soft-hearted," said Cortez.

Whether she is preparing the latest medical chart or taking care of a patient Pat does it with great pride. For her, it all started back in 1998.

"I had a neighbor that was volunteering and they needed volunteers so she asked me if I wanted to come and help," she said.

And since then she has played a vital role at the medical center. For staff she is like the glue, to her they are like family.

"I love them all and they know that, and they are as good to me as they can be as well," said Frey.

For the last two years, Pat has been at Outpatient North, prior to that she was at Saint Agnes' California Eye Institute.

She is not sure how long she will be there, but she is planning on sticking around.

"I'm getting to the point where I won't be able to do it too much longer, but I enjoy doing it and as long as I'm able to do it, ill do it," said Frey.

Cortez hopes that means another decade.

"I hope pat has another ten more years in her because our facility would be completely empty without her," she said.