Veterans and Active-Duty personnel needed to volunteer as hospice Companionship Volunteers (Contra Costa County, California)

Anchor Health is currently seeking Veterans and Active Duty personnel who wish to provide companionship to our hospice patients who live in Contra Costa County

Volunteering for Anchor Health will give you an opportunity to truly make a difference in another person's life. Your smile, your listening, your attention, and your compassionate presence will bring the important gift of connection and affirmation to someone who is in their final phase of life. If administrative volunteering sounds like a better fit for you, we have many volunteering opportunities available there as well.

Volunteers are given assignments that work for them. You tell us how often you'd like to volunteer, and we'll find an assignment that's a good match for you. All of us at Anchor Health value you, your time, and your very generous heart. We are grateful for any amount of time you wish to volunteer, whether that be on-call or occasionally, once a month, once a week, or 8 hours a day. It's always up to you.

What are some things you can do as an Anchor Health Hospice Patient Volunteer?

• Have a friendly visit with a patient and/or their family members
• Read a book or a passage out loud
• Play cards or other games
• Do arts and crafts like coloring, painting, drawing, etc.
• Walk their dog
• If you're a Veteran, relate and connect to patients through your mutual experiences
• Play some recorded music or play an instrument
• Share or view photos
• Knit or scrapbook
• Sew memory bears or blankets or ornaments
• Make flower arrangements
• Take a walk with them
• Sit outdoors with them on a patio and enjoy the sunshine or shade
• Run errands
• Grocery shop
• Do some very light housekeeping
• Organize a bookshelf, a closet, a garage
• Accompany them to community activities
• Ride with them on a para-transit bus to visit the beauty shop
• Trim their roses so they have a pretty view from their window
• Help them write letters, emails, and cards
• Interview them to create a life journal they can pass along to loved ones
• Have a beautiful conversation
• Sit with them in compassionate and therapeutic silence
• Volunteer your licensed services: haircut, manicure, massage, reiki, and alternative therapies.
• Bring along your licensed pet therapy animal
• Provide some respite care so the family or a caregiver can take a little break
• Sit vigil with a patient who is actively dying
• Give the gift of your heart and your time
• Let us know what you enjoy doing!

How do you get started?

Let us know you're interested and our Volunteer Coordinator will give you a call! You will receive an orientation to hospice concepts as well as training for your patient visits and/or administrative help, and you will be well-supported and greatly appreciated by Patients, their families, and the entire Anchor Health Hospice team.

We look forward to talking with you!

Warmly,

Maria Castillo

Anchor Health Director of Volunteer Services