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hospice corner The gift of the hospice partners Volunteer By Connie Bruton, Volunteer Coordinator
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any of the phone calls we receive from people who are interested in becoming a Hospice Partners volunteer are from people who have had personal experience with a our hospice program. They were a daughter, a mother, a brother, a husband or a friend of someone who received hospice care. The family member wants to “give back” by volunteering their time and compassion for a program that helped their loved one, and are grateful for the team of dedicated hospice professionals and volunteers who came into their home and provided end-of-life care. They often say “we couldn’t have done it without you!” Even though many of our volunteers have had personal experience with hospice services, they still go through a comprehensive training program. They learn all the elements of hospice care from the dietary needs of a dying person to the physiological and psychological aspects of death and dying. They meet the members of the team that they will be serving along side of – medical directors (physicians), nurses, home-health aides, social workers, spiritual counselors, dietitians, bereavement counselors, hospice musicians and administrative staff. One of the most important tools they carry when they complete their training is the awareness and know-how of joining the families wherever they are in their end-of-life journey and supporting them in that sacred place. We have a slogan that we live by at Hospice Partners and that is “Dying happens on the last day, every other day is about living.” The volunteers epitomize this and make it the heart of their work. They will do things like take a patient to the ocean and watch the waves, bake someone’s favorite cake, put together life books full of precious memories and give foot rubs. The Hospice Partners volunteer program is quite extensive. We have volunteers with unique talents and we match each person with a family by focusing on interests, hobbies and personality type. Some will provide therapeutic music by singing, playing an instrument or simply bringing a CD player to patients in nursing facilities and playing some of their favorite music. Vigil volunteers are experienced in-home volunteers that make themselves available 24 hours a day to support our patients and caregivers during A U G U S T
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