Hospice Volunteering - Is it for me?

What's it like to be a hospice volunteer?

 Have you ever asked yourself this question? Were you able to find an answer that enabled you to take your inquiry a step further into action? 

As a hospice volunteer, you have the privilege of serving families at a tender time when they are saying, "I love you," "I forgive you," " thank you," and "good-bye." It's a period of closure and a time of reflection. Many patients find it helpful to talk about their lives with an objective listener. They feel free to discuss events and issues with a volunteer that it may be difficult to share with their relatives or health care providers. 

Hospice volunteers consistently describe the experience as one that is surprisingly rewarding. Below are comments typically heard from volunteers. 

Ø  "The courage of the patients, and their gratitude and concern for their family. It's amazing. And the family members! These caregivers are the unsung heroes. Their love and compassion is really very touching. The whole thing is profoundly moving."

Ø  "I've seen family members reunited after years of being apart. They realize that the grudge they were holding really wasn't all that important after all. Decades of bitterness falls away in the face of death. And to a one, they all say, 'Why did we wait so long?' It makes you realize that you don't have to wait until you're dying to forgive. What a lesson!"

Ø   "It meant so much to us to get help from hospice when my husband was sick. I decided I wanted to give back, so I became a hospice volunteer. What I didn't know at the time was how much I would get out of it, being on the giving end. It's one the best things I do."

Ø    "For me, it's a blessing to spend time with people in their last weeks of life. As my patients lose their physical abilities, they often become more spiritual. The worries of daily life are seen for what they are, insignificant. In the end, all my patients can do is become the essence of the human soul: our capacity to love. And just think, I get to witness that every week!"

In addition to visiting with patients to offer companionship, your presence as a volunteer also gives family members the opportunity for a much-needed break. The kinds of activities a volunteer might do include:

v    Offering quiet presence to a sleeping patient so a caregiver might leave the home for appointments or errands

v  Light housekeeping (dishes, laundry, meal preparation)

v  Running errands

v  Letter writing

v  Sharing hobbies or special interests

Please know that a volunteer will never be expected to do something they do not want to do. In addition, all volunteers receive extensive training and support, and there is a Volunteer Coordinator to help if you have questions or concerns.

Patient-care is not the only way to contribute. If you are interested in volunteering, but don't see yourself working with patients, we will gladly find ways to use your unique talents. Other volunteer opportunities could include things like:

v  Clerical tasks (mailings, reception, special projects, office support)

v  Helping with grief support groups

v  Staffing a table at a health fair

v  Writing condolence cards

v  Assisting at a memorial event

v  Helping with computer projects

Or, if you have a volunteer idea in mind, call us and suggest it. Volunteers around the country have come up with all kinds of ideas:

       One volunteer set up a program helping patients to leave a video for their family members. Some use the video to reminisce about favorite memories, some tell their life story, others make it a love letter or an ethical will.

       The employees in one workplace organized into teams that each "adopted" a family for the holidays. The teams did things like make a Christmas meal, or get a wish list from family members and then solicited donations for the gifts from local businesses.

Be creative! We'd love to work with you. If you'd like to talk more about volunteering, give us a call.

Books on volunteering

 

Dying Declarations: Notes from a Hospice Volunteer

A candid account of a volunteer's initial concern that hospice would be a depressing venue. Instead, the author tells touching stories that illustrate the uplifting and enriching nature of working with people who, at the end of life, are willing to strip away all that is unimportant and embrace their true priorities. He also gets very specific about hospice training and the ways a hospice volunteer can positively impact the patients and families they serve.

In the Midst of Life: A Hospice Volunteer's Story

In the Midst of Life is a moving, evocatively described narrative of the patients and caregivers Charles Rose encountered as a hospice volunteer. It is also a perceptive account of his own journey into the world of the dying—a journey that in the end brings him, and us, more deeply and compassionately into the transitory world of our own lives.

Lessons for the Living: Stories of Forgiveness, Gratitude and Courage at the End of Life

The author, a hospice volunteer, shares his personal journey as he cares for hospice patients and learns the simple grace of ordinary acts of daily kindness.

When Autumn Comes: Creating Compassionate Care of the Dying

Practical advice and thoughtful reflection accompany the stories presented in this book by long time hospice volunteer, Mary Jo Bennett.

When Evening Comes: The Education of a Hospice Volunteer

Through 15 stories of working with women dying of breast cancer in rural Virginia, the author traces her evolution from novice to seasoned volunteer. She talks about some of the difficulties, but also the immense rewards.

Please Note: Medi Hospice does not specifically endorse these books, but offers their information as a sample of the kinds of materials that are available.

Do you care about others with a heart of compassion?

Can you listen and hold someone’s hand gently while they struggle to speak a few words?

If you are interested in making a difference in someone’s life we will give you the training you need to become a hospice volunteer. You will become part of a worldwide hospice family that is uniquely devoted to caring for the terminally ill.

Please contact 

Medi Home Hospice Volunteer Department

 at 

540-361-7696 

Making A Difference: Stories That Have Changed Lives

Stories from the heart bring us encouragement and uplift our spirits, helping us to remember that life is precious. Hospice volunteers are out in the homes and facility rooms of the dying every day. They give of themselves for the simple joy of knowing that the recipient has been touched by unconditional love. Volunteers have no agenda but to bring a smile to a lonely man’s face.  Whether it is a toothy grin or outright chuckle the life course has been altered. A day has been brightened. 

The life of the terminally ill is doomed to be shortened by a disease they can’t control. There are no more treatment solutions; there are no more transplants to be done; there might seem to be no hope...Yet whichever way we look, hope is always available in abundance. Hospice is all about hope; hopefulness in a future free from the agony of pain; hopefulness in quality time spent with dear loved ones and friends; hopefulness in the realization of a life well lived.

Volunteers giving of themselves to make a difference are often surprised by the blessings they receive and the experiences they encounter.  Some of these experiences are wonderful and sad simultaneously. Some of the blessings are completely unexpected. However, one thing can be certain: hospice volunteering will never be predictable.

In the following paragraphs I am going to share some real life hospice volunteer stories. After interviewing a prospective volunteer yesterday I reflected on the questions he asked me and how the answers I gave were wrapped up with a story of a real hospice volunteer experience. After working as a Volunteer Coordinator with hospice for 6 years I have many stories to tell. Here the stories are just a small sampling. May they be as blessed in the telling as they were in the living. 

Not actual cat

On a clear day in October I assigned a male volunteer to visit a man, who in his 50’s had a terminal disease that was ravaging his body. His wife, the caregiver, worked out of the home as she was unable to leave him alone. They were avid cat lovers and owned more than 6 Maine Coon cats. These were lovable kitties, but he was warned that they do not generally warm up to strangers. On his first visit, as he sat with the couple in their living room he was surrounded by the cats! They eyeballed him carefully and he ignored their presence, instead focusing on the patient. As he sat visiting and listening to the patient’s life story he felt a movement behind him and all at once a kitty was in his lap and one was beside him on the back of the couch. The lap cat purred and snuggled, while the other proceeded to sniff and lick his ear! Surrounded by these cats and not wanting to offend the couple he endured the ‘love’. They later told him that he was welcome back into their home any time and that the cats had given their seal of approval! He visited this man for many months helping him to clean out his home and garage in preparation for his death. The couple were so very thankful for their volunteer. He was thankful that the kitties approved!

Not actual trailer

The day that the patient was admitted to hospice it was clear that the volunteer assigned would need to be willing to emotionally accept the very poor conditions in which this person was living. She was a young 50 and she lived in a one room trailer with no running water or toilet. She used a bucket to relieve herself and feebly transported that bucket in a child’s wagon to the neighboring trailer where her daughter, boyfriend and grandchild lived. She owned 2 dogs and they were her babies and longtime companions. However, the dogs were not gentle and fluffy, but big and vicious – at least to a stranger. When I asked the volunteer to care for this patient she was cautious and rather apprehensive. However, the compassionate spirit of this volunteer transcended her outward fears and she agreed to visit this patient. Upon her arrival for the initial visit the 2 dogs bounded out of the trailer, barking viciously and jumping on her car. She rolled the window down ever so slightly and the patient got control of the dogs and sent them away. The volunteer was able to visit and get to know the patient. Her one room trailer was hardy bigger than her bed. She had little food and it was nearly the holidays. The volunteer suggested that they have a trip out into the city for their next visit. The patient had not been out for many months and was absolutely ecstatic at this opportunity.  As Christmas approached the volunteer discovered that her only relatives were leaving her and traveling out of state. She hatched a plan to visit the patient on Christmas Day and take her to have a meal. This was the last Christmas the patient would likely experience and the joy she felt that day was indescribable. The hospice volunteer planted seeds of encouragement and hope into the heart of this patient. A little bit of love went a very long way...

Not actual patient

The patient was estranged from her two adult children and there were no other relatives involved in her life. For the most part she was alone. After her admission to hospice she requested a volunteer. When the volunteer met the patient her heart was broken for the loneliness this elderly lady experienced was crushing. The volunteer called me and requested to visit the patient twice a week. We adjusted the visit orders on her care plan and the volunteer became like a second daughter to the patient. With the attention from the hospice staff and the great care and love they exhibited the patient actually started to thrive again. She lived for many months beyond what the doctors predicted. The hospice volunteer was integral in her care. It might be said that love saved the day yet again.

The patient had end stage dementia and was non verbal. The volunteers – a mother and her teenage daughter visited the facility as hospice volunteers. On their initial visit with the patient she was reclining back in a Jerry chair. The family had set up a CD boom box in her room because she loved music - especially Frank Sinatra. Since the chair was on wheels they thought that it might be a great idea to put on her favorite music and dance. Now dancing with a Jerry chair might seem odd but to this precious lady it was wonderful. Her eyes started to shine and a little smile crept across her face. One volunteer swayed the Jerry chair and the other volunteer danced a waltz in front of the patient. A sight to behold indeed, but for the patient it brought tears to her eyes. Do we know what she was thinking - no. Do we believe that she was remembered years gone by when she danced with her sweetheart to the tunes of old - Yes! The hospice volunteers approached their visit as an opportunity to make a demented lady happy - if only for a moment. Can we measure the joy she experienced that day? Possibly not - only her and God know for sure what she was thinking that sunny day in March, but this much we do know for certain, the hospice volunteers were willing to do whatever it took to bring a little joy into the life of a terminally ill person.

       

Do you care about others with a heart of compassion?

Can you listen and hold someone’s hand gently while they struggle to speak a few words?

If you are interested in making a difference in someone’s life we will give you the training you need to become a hospice volunteer. You will become part of a worldwide hospice family that is uniquely devoted to caring for the terminally ill.

Please contact 

Medi Home Hospice Volunteer Department

 at 

540-361-7696