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.

They come with open hearts and the role of the Volunteer Coordinator is to build a strong foundation that begins with training and is watered with encouragement and one on one mentoring.

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 corporate executives. 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.

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and hospices all over the U.S. are honoring their volunteers. This is the once a year event where hospice professionals say thank you to these selfless, altruistic people.

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 award them with tokens to remind them how much their service means.

To all my wonderful volunteers of Medi Hospice, THANK YOU!!

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.