NATCHEZ — The first face many Natchez Regional Medical Center visitors see when they walk through the front door is that of Bernice Richardson.

Richardson is a Pink Lady at the hospital and one of 48 volunteers whose job, she said, is to create a pleasant experience for everyone who walks through the door.

“When people come in here and they need help finding something, they’re looking for somebody that is friendly,” Richardson said. “That’s what we do. That’s what people need.”

Richardson said she knows hospitals can be stressful for people, especially when their loved ones are sick.

“Sometimes people come in all stressed out, maybe they have someone they know upstairs who’s really sick, and we just try to make them feel better,” she said.

Richardson has been volunteering at NRMC for two years, and she also works at the Natchez Senior Citizen Multi-Purpose Center.

At Natchez Regional, Richardson works the information desk, answering the phone, directing visitors to where they need to go, fetching wheelchairs and, most importantly, greeting people with a smile.

Everyone who walks by the information desk at NRMC gets a smile and a hello from Richardson. She often stops nurses, doctors and other staff to ask about their children, spouses or parents.

“I just love my work,” she said. “I like talking on the phone and meeting new people.”

Richardson says making visitors’ experiences pleasant at NRMC is a team effort of all the hospital volunteers.

“We all work together, and we’re all friends,” she said. “It’s all about love and loving people and coming together as one.”

Just across the hall from Richardson, Genie Jones greets patrons of the hospital’s Hidden Treasures gift shop. She, too, says the hospitals’ visitors are the volunteers’ No. 1 priority.

“When people come in the hospital, we want to make them feel at home and as comfortable as possible,” she said.

NRMC Spokeswoman Kay Ketchings said the volunteers are an essential part of the hospital’s team. Last year, Ketchings said, the volunteers put in 9,700 hours.

“I am just in awe of the volunteers,” she said. “Not only do they help people, they build relationships with them. It’s nothing to hear them out there asking about your grandchildren or how you’re doing or how you’re feeling.”

Richardson previously worked as a nurse’s aid at a hospital and nursing home and said she has always wanted to work as a hospital volunteer.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a candy striper,” she said. “And I just love it here; I really do. I love my work.”

And the Pink Ladies, Jones said, are a tight-knit group of gals.

“We all love each other dearly, like sisters,” she said.