hospice volunteer

hospice~ : a facility or program designed to provide a caring environment for meeting the physical and emotional needs of the terminally ill. 
That is the definition I found in the Merriam Webster Dictionary.
In fact, most of the definitions were very much the same, yet as I have completed my 3rd week in Hospice Training, I find it to be so much more than that.
At the Hospital that I am training with, it consist of a team that focus is caring beyond curing.

The team consist of:

• Nurse / Care Manager
• Social Worker
• Spiritual Care Coordinator
• Hospice Aide
• Therapists
• Dietians

and

• Volunteers

That's where I fall in.  My decision to become a volunteer has been pecking at me for some time. I just didn't realize what that little voice or calling was. I felt a void, but didn't realize it was a need to serve.
I have learned so much not only about Hospice, Patients, Caretakers, Family dynamics, and Death & Dying process, but about my own dynamics and my own spirituality.


This isn't for everyone.
You have to be compassionate yet genuine. You have to know how to treat one with respect not pity. Dignity not condescending.


How I see it, is, these patients are at the end of life...We will all die one day. No getting around that. However, we may not all know when our time is near. We may not experience daily pain and suffering. Worry over loved ones, financial situations, and the hereafter.  If we are lucky, we will live a grand life and peacefully die. But, that isn't the way it is for everyone. Some are faced with long grueling exhausting diseases that deplete us. Some have a shorter illness but knowing their time is short, well, I can't imagine as I have never been in this situation.

And there is the families. The friends. The feeling of uselessness as they can not protect or "save" their loved ones. The how can I make it better...What can I do for you... The anguish of failure that I can't "fix" you.


My role as a volunteer will be one of many hats. I am here not only to assist patients but to assist families. To relieve. To give an extra hand. To give some valuable time.
I may be needed to sit with a patient. To read. To talk. To laugh.
I may be needed to clean. To cook. To help with household chores.


I will be a chameleon. I will be what they need me to be.

need a prayer...

I have been MIA alot lately.

Alot going on, mostly trying to spend available time with my Aunt Nancy.

She will be leaving Indiana today, and I realize it may very well be the last time I see her. Her Parkinson's & Alzheimer's have been cruel.

She will be leaving this grand loving Nursing Home (yes... some really are!) And travel to Oklahoma to live with one of her daughters. Although it sounds like a better situation, I do not believe it is.

Her daughter hasn't a clue as to what she has taken on, nor has realized exactly what a "two person assist", elderly person that can no longer do anything without assistance, can no longer walk nor use the restroom requires.

It is very complicated, and heartbreaking to everyone including the other daughters, as to what & how things have come about.

I can not go into details. But, I will ask for your prayers, and your positive energy to come into the direction of my dear Aunt.

I pray for her to have happiness, dignity, and I pray she never understands exactly what & why things have come to what they have. I hope that she does not ever pick up on any of the negativity or greed that has come to light.

I pray that hearts will awaken and the right thing will be done.