What is National Volunteer Appreciation Month?

Hospices all over the U.S. are honoring their volunteers. This is the once a year month where hospice professionals say thank you to these selfless, altruistic people.

Hospice Volunteer Programs are built on the compassion and caring of individuals in our communities who sincerely want to make a difference in the world. The hospice volunteer experience is often intense, always unique and is a wonderful opportunity to touch lives during the end of life. The volunteer’s motivation is to give deeply from the heart, but it must be coupled with a sense of true purpose that comes with being a part of the hospice team.

Volunteers give to their hospices and their patients countless hours and many miles. Some patients do not live close by, but that does not generally deter a volunteer from making the trip to visit someone in need of a friendly visitor. They wait patiently while tired caregivers take a much needed break. Even if the patient is sleeping hospice volunteers are willing to sit by the bedside and be the presence that reminds the soul they are not alone.

Hospice volunteers come from all walks of life. They are homemakers or lawyers; sales marketers or retail workers; stay at home moms or the retired. They are musicians and animal lovers who have trained pet therapy dogs. They are sewers and knitters who prefer to stay home and work tirelessly to make blankets and memory bears for our patients and their loved ones. Their contribution is invaluable and their service commendable.

They deserve to be recognized, appreciated and honored. So every April we take a few hours to gather together our hospice managers, chaplains, social workers and nurses. We break bread together and share in each others lives. We remind them how much their service means.

Volunteers are an integral part of the interdisciplinary team approach to hospice care.

They help our patients and families in a multitude of ways, including companionship, caregiver respite, light cooking and cleaning, patient support, and one on one life review. In addition, volunteers read or sing to patients. They sit at the bedside and quietly offer ‘personal presence’. During the volunteer’s visit, he or she is a friendly visitor with no particular agenda but to listen, care and support.

Some of the things a Medi Hospice volunteer might assist with include:

· Reading from a favorite book or the Bible.

· Watch over the patient while the primary caretaker takes a break or runs errands.

· Listen to stories and memories that are meaningful to the patient.

· Support for an overwhelmed caretaker by listening without judgment.

· Using a special talent such as music to bring joy to the heart of the patient and their families.

· Visit patients with certified animals to offer pet therapy.

Hospice volunteers are very unique individuals who have a deep sense of compassion for those who are terminally ill. They give selflessly to our patients. They hold a hand that is in need of gentle touch. They read a book that tired eyes cannot see. They sit at the bedside bringing a smile and a quiet presence to one who needs both. When there is soup to heat the volunteer prepares; when there is fresh air to breath the volunteer escorts the patient to the window or porch; when the day calls for a joke or poem the hospice volunteer complies.

They are flexible, punctual,

reliable and intuitive.

They give from their heart, willingly, openly, without restraint.

Medi Hospice VOLUNTEERS ARE WONDERFUL, GIVING PEOPLE!

AND WE APPRECIATE THEIR

GRACIOUSNESS AND LOVE!!

Volunteering in hospice is a choice that creates rewards for patients and families. The ultimate surprise is the growth a volunteer develops from learning more about themselves with every visit to their patient. You learn to communicate in ways that increase your own appreciation of life. Your views of daily situations take on a holistic perspective. Nothing will ever be the same in your personal or professional life if you are correctly trained as a hospice volunteer.