Hospice Volunteering: What Is It?
Volunteering in hospice is comprehensive assistance to patients and an opportunity to provide ultimate care and emotional support to relatives. Such community work is of great benefit to people and helps raise their self-esteem.
The responsibilities of hospice volunteers depend directly on their life experience, skills, and abilities. Apart from helping their patients and relatives, it’s also about performing administrative work, preparing and holding various events, as well as fundraising.
What Does a Hospice Volunteer Do?
A volunteer is an indispensable aid to the entire hospice team. Such a “Good Samaritan” can provide different levels of emotional support to patients and relatives in their bereavement. The Hospice Foundation of America recommends that such organizations actively involve volunteers and paid clinical or administrative staff.
Even if such a philanthropist can spare just a few hours a week to help a hospice, this will be a tremendous support to the entire community. Therefore, it’s always beneficial to have responsible volunteers around, especially if they possess the following specific competencies and skills:
- Medical training skills (e.g., doctors and nurses of retirement age who have the desire and ability to help hospice patients);
- Combat paramedic skills (e.g., such experts can provide valuable assistance at Veterans Hospice Program hospices since patients who are military veterans most appreciate the opportunity to receive companionship and support from other veterans).
People who have lost a relative or close friend can also provide invaluable assistance. Often family members of palliative patients (i.e., people living with a serious illness, such as cancer or heart failure) become hospice volunteers themselves after the loss.
Hospice volunteer roles also include emotional support and creating trusting relationships with patients who are in need of palliative care.
Who Can Be a Volunteer?
Almost anyone 18 or 21 years old can be a volunteer. Some hospices allow teenagers as young as 14 years old; the main condition is that the individual must have a genuine desire to help other people.
Also, if a person has experienced the loss of a close relative and feels the need to volunteer, most likely, they will not be allowed to do that by most hospices. The reason for this is the fact that such medical establishments require a one-year post-bereavement waiting period to ensure that the volunteer has healed from the loss.
In other words, people who have experienced the death of their loved ones have to fully recover their physical, psychological, and emotional resources before sharing them with others.
After all, you cannot help others while being devastated by grief. During this time, you need the support of others to get back to living a normal life.
What Personal Qualities a Hospice Volunteer Needs
A volunteer who works in hospice should have a high level of empathy and good communication skills. Other personal qualities for those who plan to work with palliative patients, their families, and caregivers are as follows:
- Patience;
- Compassion;
- Kindness;
- Stress resistance.
- Effective communication skills;
- Active listening and understanding of people of different ages, social statuses, cultural, and educational backgrounds;
- Acceptance and respect for diverse religious views, habits, and lifestyles;
- Conscious understanding and acceptance of one’s own feelings about death and dying;
- The ability to learn quickly and acquire new skills.
Hospice Volunteer Responsibilities
Virtually anyone who has basic personal qualities for hospice work can be of help. However, it all depends on your life experience, skills, and education.
At VolunteerMatch.org, you can find local hospices in your area to apply and receive the necessary training.
Direct Interaction with Patients
Direct interaction involves working face-to-face with palliative patients in a hospice or nursing home, or when making home visits. Volunteer roles may include:
- Keeping a vigil (i.e. spending time with patients, sitting by them, or holding their hands);
- Reading books out loud, singing, or playing board games;
- Listening to soothing music with patients;
- Writing letters or drawing with patients;
- Buying groceries for patients;
- Doing simple on-site housework;
- Meal preparation;
- Providing support to patients in their last hours, etc.
Also, specific skills like playing some musical instruments, hairdresser skills, manicure and pedicure skills, make-up artist skills, etc., can also be valuable.
Indirect Interaction with Patients
In addition to working directly with patients, volunteers can perform other supportive tasks, including:
- Crafting handmade postcards for palliative patients;
- Making diabetic cookies or other healthy treats for patients;
- Organizing and participating in health fairs or other educational and interactive events.
Such activities do not involve talking to palliative patients, their relatives, or friends, but are valuable contributions to the hospice and, at the same time, an opportunity to give attention and care to people in need.
Support for Family Members
Aside from working with palliative patients, volunteers can also help their relatives. In this case, there are mainly two directions for the activities:
- Providing support to family members and helping them accept the death of their loved ones (e.g., making phone calls, organizing annual memorial events, providing psychological support for family members, arranging group therapies, etc.);
- Providing support to relatives or caregivers of a palliative patient. This includes giving people the opportunity to rest or leave the place for a while, offering help around the house, buying and delivering groceries, cooking, and so on.
Such assistance is vital for the palliative patient’s family, as this will help them feel and maintain a semblance of normality.
Administrative Work
Another important hospice volunteer activity is office work. This may include:
- Email marketing activities;
- Making/answering phone calls;
- Organizing and holding various business events;
- The entry and processing of data;
- Fundraising activities and other mundane tasks.
If you prefer working “behind the scenes,” or enjoy doing routine clerical work, this type of support will definitely work out for you. Of course, in this case, personal qualities such as attentiveness and diligence are a must.
Benefits of Volunteering at a Hospice
Volunteering at a hospice is a great opportunity not only to help others but also to get better and improve yourself in different ways. Volunteers have the opportunity to learn new useful life skills through meeting various people and discovering their experiences.
Other benefits of becoming a hospice volunteer include the following:
- Increased self-esteem;
- Improved communication skills;
- Good physical and psychological well-being;
- Increased life expectancy, etc.
Simply put, working as a hospice volunteer, not only will you share your positive energy with others in need but also receive it in return. Plus, you can gain valuable experience and learn to appreciate life’s important moments.
Conclusions
The main purpose of volunteering as a member of the hospice team is to provide a high level of care and emotional support for patients, which is invaluable not only for patients but also for their families and friends.