Hospice Volunteering: An Activity For Your Heart
I am with a new hospice volunteer when she meets her patient for the first time. I have allowed the two to speak alone for a few moments when I return. I kneel down to the patient, smile, and ask if it is okay if the volunteer comes back to see her once in a while. Her response is the same that I hear again and again in this situation
"Yes, of course. Not many people come to see me".
Does my heart break a little when I hear this? Yes. But it also confirms why I do this job, why I feel this job is so important. I am the volunteer coordinator for a hospice, and I am truly blessed to be able to say that every single day. I never expected to land here, I applied and interviewed because a friend encouraged me to do so. And now that I've been here a year, I am passionate about my job.
Hospice is focused on care management for patients who are close to dying. We provide the physical, emotional, and spiritual support for patients and families so that they can be as comfortable as possible. Often times, patients are lonely, needing companionship or someone to come and hold their hand. That's where I come in. That's where my volunteers come in. It is truly inspirational to be able to see first hand the impact the volunteers make on the patients and families.
Being a hospice volunteer is not something many people can say they have done. But everyone should do it. It truly opens your eyes to the realities of life and death. It focuses on human connection, and that in itself is a beautiful thing.
Believe me when I say, our patients need someone like you. Someone caring, gentle, energetic. Someone who can listen, someone who is patient. If that someone is you, consider becoming a hospice volunteer today.
www.greatlakescaring.com/hospice/volunteering-to-care
Ronald Wolf
6:13 pm on Thursday, April 26, 2012
I am saddened that I am the first to comment. I was not entirely happy with the hospice experience my mother went through and I still feel I should not have been so dependent on their help, however I had little choice and in the end I myself was my biggest disappointment as I slept from emotional and physical exhaustion in her last moments.
As my mother had Alzheimers the volunteers did not stay very long, or often come back. Alzheimers frightens those who do not understand it, they feel they are wasting their time as the patient does not always respond with a grateful smile. This is not the movies is what I am trying to say.
Volunteers ideally should go out in pairs for mutual support. Hospice is a new field and hopefully somewhere there will be more of those who hear the calling of life's last fearful and too often lonely moments.