Volunteers are the Heart of Hospice
Hospice of the Prairie & Prairie Home Health is committed to providing the highest quality end-of-life care for our hospice patients and their families, and volunteers are an integral part of that care.
Volunteers are compassionate individuals, from all walks of life, who want to serve the community by providing support to patients and families facing the difficulties of a life-limiting illness. This support is given in a variety of different ways.
What do Volunteers do?
Hospice volunteers play an important role in the care of a terminally ill person. Family members often count on the volunteer to sit with their loved one while they get a short break from their caregiver role. Volunteers can also run errands, provide light housekeeping duties, fix meals, or simply spend time with a patient who is feeling lonely.
Some hospice volunteers choose to help in other ways. They work in the office doing filing, copying, organizing mailings, or answering the telephone. Others deliver equipment and medication to patients.
Whatever the hospice volunteer chooses to do, their role is critical to the hospice philosophy and to the team concept. Hospice simply would not “be” without volunteers.
Who can volunteer?
Any caring, concerned, individual who is dependable, supportive of the hospice philosophy, empathetic and understanding, and who possesses the ability to listen and maintain confidentiality can become a hospice volunteer.
Hospice of the Prairie & Prairie Home Health currently has volunteers throughout Ford, Gray, Clark, Meade, and Hodgeman counties. Our volunteers represent a wide variety of ages and life situations and they volunteer for many different reasons. Many are retired, but almost half are working either full- or part-time and they volunteer during the weekends and evenings.
All volunteers applicants must successfully complete the application process which includes personal references and a background check before serving patients and their families. A thorough training process, learning about issues relating to hospice and the needs of hospice patients and families, must also be successfully completed.
How do I sign up?
Those interested in learning more about Hospice of the Prairie & Prairie Home Health’s volunteer program can contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Rosalita Cummins, at 620-227-7209.