Vigil Volunteers are needed to provide our patients and their caregivers/family with support during their final days and hours. Volunteers may provide companionship by simply being present with the patient who is dying or by providing support to family members who need a break from the bedside of their loved one. What does a Vigil Volunteer provide to a patient and families:
Answer the phone or door if needed
Rub their back or shoulders
Run an errand if needed
Look at family photos
Talk about their loved one
Remember each family is different. Just be there for them and take your cues from them. There is no formula that will work every time.
A Vigil Volunteer is different than a respite volunteer because this service is offered in the last hours of life and is for a short duration of time.
For more information about volunteer opportunities at Interim Healthcare Hospice, visit our web site at: http://www.interimhealthcare.com/twincities/hospice/volunteers or call (651) 917-3634.
Hospice care is an integrated program of medical and psychosocial care for terminally ill patients in their last several months of life. It is founded on the belief that the final stages of life should be lived with the greatest degree of comfort and dignity possible.
Interim HealthCare Hospice services offer the best in medical and nursing care, using state-of-the-art symptom management to control symptoms and promote comfort. We believe in enhancing the quality of life when quantity is limited. We respect patient decisions to forgo extraordinary measures meant only to prolong life and we provide physical, emotional and spiritual support to patients and those who love and care for them.
