You won't believe how many hours of volunteering this Lynbrook man has done!

Logging more than 14,000 hours of service — and counting — Lynbrook resident Tim Schlameuss was honored on April 19 as one of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s most dedicated volunteers.

“I think we’re put on this Earth to help people,” Schlameuss, 67, said. “They helped me, so I’m trying to help them back.”

In June, he will mark 40 years of service at the hospital, which he began as a way of thanking them for the care he received during his time as a patient. After a truck hit him in December of 1979, he underwent months of rehabilitation at Mount Sinai South Nassau.

“From the accident, I couldn’t work a full-time job anymore,” Schlameuss said. “I liked the people here, so I decided this is where I’d volunteer.”

His service in the mailroom and spiritual care program earned him a reputation of being friendly, patient and kind. 

“Many people come into this office to sign in and out every day,” said Director of Volunteers Anne Fernandez, who has been working with Schlameuss since joining the hospital staff 10 years ago. “But Tim will always come to my door and say, ‘Hello, good afternoon’ and ‘How are you doing today?’ Always taking the time to greet us. He’s wonderful.”

Schlameuss regularly goes above and beyond his volunteer duties — coming in early whenever the hospital needs extra help, personally delivering mail to patients, and taking on extra work for his coworkers when they need time away.

“My husband was diagnosed with glioblastoma, brain cancer, and he lived for six months,” said Barbara Dorfman, who has worked with Schlameuss in the mailroom since 2020. “Tim was able to accommodate the hours I wouldn’t be at the job. He’s a great person. Everyone really loves him.”

On top of working in the mailroom, Schlameuss is also a Eucharistic minister for Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Spiritual Care Program — providing a service for patients who can’t otherwise attend religious services.

“He’s a spiritual person,” Fernandez said. “His faith is very important to him. And I think that also adds to his ability to get along with everyone, and just have this positive aura about him when he comes in.”

Schlameuss, who has strong ties to Our Lady of Peace Church in Lynbrook, said he sees the position as an opportunity to bring God to people. He was inspired to take on the role after seeing firsthand the comfort that the program brought to patients, particularly his friend and co-volunteer, Essie Nash.

“I was volunteering in the mailroom with a wonderful lady,” Schlameuss said. “I used to walk her home. She passed away, and Deacon Charles was very good to her. I was also taking care of my father for four-and-a-half years with dementia, and when he passed, I had free time. So I put the two together. I asked Deacon Charles if I could give out the Eucharist.”

Schlameuss’ faith, which was fostered during his upbringing in Our Lady of Peace, is the source of his belief that people’s core purpose is to help one another. When he’s not personally delivering mail or offering the Eucharist to patients, he’s caring for stray cats in the community. Plus, he always makes sure to let everyone in the hospital know the day’s weather forecast, just in case anyone is planning on an afternoon walk.

“He is a special person — he really is,” Fernandez said. "Just a pleasant person always looking to do good and make a difference. And he certainly does every day. When he comes in, he wants to just help. There’s a smile on his face. You never see him in a bad mood.”

Schlameuss described Mount Sinai South Nassau’s staff members and volunteers as his family. He said they showed up at his mother’s wake in 1989, and later his father’s in 2001.

“That just blew my mind,” Schlameuss said. “That they cared enough about me that they wanted to be there with me at that time.”

When asked to share more of his thoughts on volunteering nearly 40 years of service to Mount Sinai South Nassau, he still finds a way to bring it back to thanking the hospital staff.

“I don’t know why or how South Nassau attracts such nice people,” Schlameuss said. “But they are wonderful people. For 40 years, they have always been wonderful people. That’s my story.”

Those interested in volunteering at Mount Sinai South Nassau can visit SouthNassau.org/volunteer or call (516) 632-3928.