She was a nursing assistant during the war, filling in at St. Joseph’s Hospital because there weren’t any hospitals “out here”. She is also a 55-year veteran of volunteer work at Queensway General Hospital and Trillium Health Centre.

“My heart has always been in hospital work,” Ruby West says.
Ruby’s husband, Kenneth West, became one of the early advocates for what became the Queensway General Hospital — there’s a wing named in his honour — and Ruby canvassed for contributions in the communities the hospital would serve.

Ruby West says volunteering has been a second life for her, from the now-closed Pink Aux volunteer re-sale shop to the two days a week — one day at each site — she spends at Trillium today. She was a canvasser for funds during the 1950s and, in the 1960s, she initiated the Candy Striper program for youthful volunteers. She co-ordinated volunteer services — as a volunteer herself — in the 1970s and then, in the 1980s and 1990s, she became the Director of Volunteer Services and a member of the Queensway General Hospital Board of Governors for 12 years.

After Queensway General Hospital and The Mississauga Hospital joined to become Trillium Health Centre, Ruby West served on the structural committee and has been a member of the Community Advisory Panel for eight years.

In 2008, she was awarded a 55-year service pin.

“We all do it just because we like to do it. And I would hate to have gone through this life without contributing to causes I am passionate about.”