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Valet Parking Arrives | Valet Parking Arrives | October 21, 2005 
The Valet parking team at Central Vermont Medical Center. From left to right: Joseph Royea; Wendy Everett, Manager; Angel Ortiz; Lesilee Kirby, and James Dopp.
Valet parking is used at a number of medical centers across the country. It is a service that has been under consideration at CVMC for several years. The start of the construction project seemed like the perfect time to bring valet parking to CVMC. The program is a convenience for customers, especially during inclement weather and the winter months, plus it makes more efficient use of available parking. This allowed the medical center to shelve a proposed program that would have had employees parking off-site and being shuttled to our campus.
Reactions have been mixed, but we seem to be turning the corner in educating the public about the ease and convenience of valet parking. A recent informal survey elicited a number of positive reactions. “Love it. I have trouble walking. It's heaven.” “I had to bring my mother in, who is in a wheel chair. It was very helpful.” “I loved it. It's important that the staff is so friendly.” There are still a number of negative comments, as well, mostly centered around concern about allowing someone else to drive their car, or confusion as to where to go. Others weren't sure how to use valet parking, or saw a spot upon arrival and just pulled in. Additional signage and other steps will be taken to alleviate some of these concerns.
Valets do more than just park cars. Valet Angel Ortiz tells the story of the day a woman pulled up to the curb in a Subaru, a few yards away, and called to me that she couldn't breathe. Angel ran over, yelling to another valet to get a wheel chair. The woman thought she was having an allergic reaction to something cooked in peanut oil. Angel carefully lifted her into the wheel chair and told Scott to run her to the Emergency Department. “ We made sure we took good care of her, said Angel afterwards. “I never felt so good in my life. I was glad I was there to help her.”
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