We are looking for kind, caring people who are good listeners and have time to make phone calls, from our office or from home, to family members of hospice patients who have died in the last year. Part of hospice care includes offering bereavement support to the patients' families for the first year after their death. Family members receive mailings with information on how to cope with grief, get invited to grief support groups and memorial services, and are offered individual grief counseling from the hospice bereavement coordinator. Each one also receives phone calls every few weeks just to check in and see how they are coping. Most of the time, what they need is simply someone to listen as they share their struggles. Any needs beyond that would be referred to the bereavement coordinator. We would love to have volunteers to make some of these calls each week. Volunteers are vital to the mission of Interim Hospice - offering whole-person-centered care to those facing life-limiting illness and their families. If you don't have experience with hospice or know the "right" thing to say, don't worry! The most important thing is to be a caring presence on the phone, and sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.
Volunteers will be thoroughly trained with a hospice volunteer orientation and a chance to have all your questions addressed. We would love to have you join our hospice team!
We offer a thorough volunteer orientation program, most of which can be done at home at your own pace. Volunteers need to have a driver's license and up to date car insurance. You will need to come into the office for a PPD skin test and drug screen.