Helping through Hospice

Returning the Favor

My sister Beth is on a well-deserved vacation and invited to me to offer up a few thoughts about making a difference through hospice. Every local hospice depends upon both paid staff and volunteers to fulfill its primary mission – providing comfort and quality of life for patients (and families) with a terminal illness.

Many volunteers have had loved ones under hospice care and became volunteers to simply “return the favor”. Each volunteer is carefully screened and required to attend at least several weeks of training. Becoming a hospice volunteer is an incredible opportunity to make a difference in one’s community.

I’d like to share some of the ways our volunteers help out. We have several men who come and help maintain our building. They can be found hanging light bulbs, putting up pictures, or fixing a broken door frame. Other volunteers help us by stuffing envelopes, doing data entry, filing records, delivering medications, facilitating support groups, baking cookies, driving patients to the doctor, and serving on the Board of Directors.

There are four legged volunteers who put smiles on our patients’ faces and a lovely girl who has been bringing cheer to patients since her pre-school days. Caring volunteers offer comfort through our “bereavement phone line” while others sit with patients while their caregivers take a break. Some decorate patient’s rooms and some read to patients. Singers and musicians offer music and the crafty assist patients in scrap-booking and other craft projects.

“Being there” teams give comfort and support during the last hours of a patient’s life. Volunteers can be found cleaning up the dishes, playing cards, holding a hand, saying a prayer and painting a patient’s fingernails. Dreams have come true as volunteers have pulled off romantic dinners, a Hawaiian Luau, and a baseball game under the lights. One fellow made a huge difference in a patient’s life simply by taking him for coffee every week.

Volunteering for hospice is not only a great way to make a difference in the lives of others - it offers much in return, including personal growth, newfound purpose, friendships, and a richer life.

Guest blogger: Sharon Carson, Chaplain for Wayne County Hospice and Palliative Care, Wooster, Ohio