Miami, Florida, August 6, 2007 – He works nearly 40 hours a week, taking calls, filing papers and visiting patients for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Chicagoland NW. Larry Rybak isn’t a physician, nurse or aide—he isn’t even on the payroll. He’s the recipient of company’s Richard Wolf Volunteer Achievement Award, for which he was honored at the prestigious National Employee Recognition Awards.

VITAS, the nation’s leading hospice provider with 8,640 employees, each year recognizes those who best serve their patients, families and fellow employees. Rybak, who lives in Woodridge and has been a VITAS Volunteer since 2004, was among this year’s 25 honorees.

The national award is named for a Chicago volunteer who came onboard when the Lombard office opened its doors in the late 1980s and worked there for more than a decade.

Rybak, a retired salesman and entrepreneur, says he found his niche as a VITAS volunteer. Even the most challenging patients do not daunt him. “We had a patient who was fussy and irritable and couldn’t get comfortable,” says Shari Casselli, Rybak’s supervisor at VITAS. “He didn’t want anyone hovering over him, and he gave his family caregivers a hard time.”

Rybak began visiting, and eventually the patient warmed to him; just before the man’s death, Rybak was one of the first called to sit by the bedside. “He was just there, in case he was needed,” says Casselli. “That’s a dedicated volunteer.”

As one of the “best of the best,” Rybak was rewarded with a weekend celebration at a beachfront hotel in South Florida.