Cleveland’s Own spotlights Akron Children’s volunteer leader Vicki Parisi as she retires after 44 years

A long tenure in pediatric care, framed through a community-recognition series

Vicki Parisi, a longtime Akron Children’s Hospital employee who most recently led volunteer services across multiple sites, is being recognized locally as she ends a career that began more than four decades ago. Parisi is set to retire Dec. 31, 2025, concluding 44 years at the pediatric health system, where her work evolved from clinical support roles to leadership in volunteer and visitor services.

The profile of Parisi fits the format of “Cleveland’s Own,” a Northeast Ohio feature that highlights people and organizations with local civic impact, often through nonprofit or community-facing work. The series is produced in partnership with Kaulig Giving and typically focuses on service-oriented efforts in the region.

From internship to leadership: roles spanning departments and eras

Parisi entered Akron Children’s as part of a medical assisting internship and was hired afterward as a pharmacy technician on the afternoon shift. Over time, she worked in pathology as a secretary and in laboratory administration as an administrative assistant, reflecting how hospitals once relied heavily on manual documentation and typewritten reporting.

Her later assignments moved into senior administrative support and foundation operations, including coordinating fundraising events. She ultimately became director of volunteer services, responsible for volunteer operations in Akron and the Mahoning Valley, as well as information desks, gift shops and respite centers.

• Early career: pharmacy technician and departmental administrative roles
• Mid-career: executive assistant positions supporting senior leadership
• Foundation work: coordination of community fundraising events
• Leadership: volunteer services and visitor-facing operations

Volunteer programs as patient-experience infrastructure

In describing her own career, Parisi identified the development of Akron Children’s volunteer program as her central professional accomplishment. Volunteer services in pediatric hospitals often function as a visible layer of patient and family support, providing wayfinding, comfort items, bedside activities and event staffing—tasks that complement clinical care while requiring consistent training and coordination.

Parisi said moments that brought “a smile to a child’s face,” from bedside activities to escorting families through the facility, were among the most meaningful parts of her work.

Institutional change over four decades

Parisi’s recollections also illustrate broader changes in hospital culture and operations since the early 1980s. She pointed to the end of indoor workplace smoking—once common enough that employees smoked in offices—as a marker of shifting norms and policies in healthcare settings. She also described the hospital’s growth and continuing efforts to improve pediatric care and the patient-and-family experience over time.

Retirement plans rooted in family and familiar interests

Parisi said she plans to spend more time with her husband, children and grandchildren, and anticipates travel to see family in cities including Richmond, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. She also plans to continue music-related hobbies, including learning guitar, after previously playing piano.

Her departure closes a tenure that touched multiple hospital departments and community-facing programs, while placing volunteer operations—often behind-the-scenes work—at the center of her legacy in pediatric care.