The role of hospice volunteers

Contribution by: Kelly Orozco, coordinator of volunteers from the OSF Hospice

Hospice can be a scary word for patients and their families. Often, volunteers come to train with certain fears on their part. After patients and families have received our services, our support and our education, they can begin to see that the word formerly “scary” has turned into an understanding that the hospice is on the world …life.

It’s about life The last stage of life with comfort. It is a question of looking for ways to stand next to a patient to help him live A dream of their. It can also be as simple as helping the family / caregivers live With a little less fear and worry.

What do the hospice volunteers do?

The objective of training volunteers is: “How can I help the patient and the family to live more comfortably?” Volunteers are not doctors who release them to focus on helping these small details of life that may have been put aside before the transitional chaos.

This means that volunteers can: deliver meals, provide caregivers with a respite, shopping, providing music therapy by singing or playing instruments, helping housekeeping and reading patients. For those who want to do unanswered volunteer for patients, there are also office volunteers who help the palliative care team to operate logistics for those of us who work directly with patients and their families.

This is only a small list of what the volunteers do, and it does not adequately express the love gift that volunteers and families get go to and approach.

Volunteer stories

To better understand the impact of hospice volunteers, I would like to share some stories of our volunteer reports.

A written volunteer,

“She smiles a lot and seems happy to see me. Music was playing, and she seemed to appreciate it. I told her that I bet you was a singer, and she started to buzz a song. When I told her that it sounded well, she was humming another. It was great, she understood me! She laughed and seemed happy.“”

Shortly after this visit, the patient told the volunteer that she was a singer in a piano in New York. What makes it astonishing is that the other members of the hospice staff did not even know that she could speak. He was the only one she spoke to. It was by sitting down by his side and paying attention to the little details he found in music was life give it.

Another written volunteer,

“We agreed as a million dollars!” I was so flattered that she said to me, “You are the best medication for what hurts me”. She was very responsive and gave me three words of words three. »»

This volunteer was twinned to make visits, because the family desperately needed time to recharge. The patient did not speak much, but as you can see on the volunteer note, she just needed the right person to support her life.

There are countless stories like these and stories of patients completing one last thing on their list of buckets during their hospice. So, the next time you think of the word “hospice”, I hope it does not mention scary thoughts.

I hope rather that you see him as a team of people, including volunteers, who help life.

Interested in volunteering for Osf Hospice?

If you are interested in volunteering for OSF Hospice or if you simply want to know more about the hospice volunteers, do not hesitate to contact Kelly Orozco at (309) 683-7703.

Last update: March 16, 2018