Many of our patients are in a facility, either with no family, or with family who are far away. Either situation leaves the patient with great gaps of time alone, during a time when they are on the scariest journey of their life: transitioning into the unknown. Spiritual beliefs can give some courage to make this trip, but the quiet presence of another human being, witnessing these end steps, offers comfort, support and encouragement to continue to do this internal work.
If you're interested in sharing yourself with another person who is entering a very sacred and special time in their life, I welcome you to get involved! Respond to this post to receive details about all that is entailed in being a Hospice Volunteer at Echo Hospice. I will say here that, "Onboarding is a process," but it is also fairly standard among hospices; it includes, training, health and background checks, and forms, forms and more forms! This is a long-term commitment, you should have weekly availability (meaning at least a 2 hour window at some point during the week: any day, and almost any time can work), for most of at least one year. And, you must be over 18 years old.
Volunteers always have control as to where they go, and when they go, however, the more limitations that you put on driving distance and schedule availability, the harder it may be to find a case that will work for you. With that said, Vigil Volunteering can be done at any time-of-day and any day-of-the-week, when a patient is identified as transitioning.
If you are interested in joining our pool of Volunteers (and I hope that you are), please contact the Volunteer Coordinator. By showing interest, more information will be sent to you, so you can have a full sense of what is entailed with Hospice Volunteering. The short of it is, you'll have to: fill out an application, review and sign a bunch of other forms, have a conversation with the Volunteer Coordinator, take an on-line training course (about hospice), do some health checks and a background check. (Not necessarily in that order.) Asking for the information doesn't commit you to anything. And nothing bad will happen if you ask questions, either. (It's actually encouraged!) I hope we hear from you!