Alameda County Volunteers Needed many fun opportunities to serve!

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PLAN TO BUILD ROBUST AC STUDENT & VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

Alameda County (AC) Volunteers - We have two programs: Getting the Most Out of Life (GMOL) & IHSS Care Partners community based, culturally-competent program and many Volunteer & Student Opportunities

1. No One Dies Alone (NODA) Friendly Visitor Volunteer
Extend caring concern to the our clients and community with our HCSA Getting the Most Out of Life (GMOL), Highland Hospital and IHSS Care Partners Community Based, Culturally Competent Palliative Care Program by providing and reassuring presence at the bedside of a dying patient who would otherwise be alone. NODA volunteers are an essential part of hospice by joining our staff to ensure that no patient on our services has to face death alone. Our volunteers provide support, companionship, a hand to hold, prayer, and any other form of comfort that may be wanted or needed by the patient or family during the days/hours leading up to their passing.

2. AC Friendly Visitors Volunteer
Our GMOL Friendly Visitors program matches frail, isolated older adults with AC Volunteers that provide companionship through home visits, phone calls and outings. This program intends to help thousands of people find stimulating companionship as well as life long friends. From a tentative first visit, we have watched friendships blossom that have led to both volunteer and older adult developing a deep appreciation of the joys and challenges of aging.

3. AC Complementary Alternative Medicine Healers & Provider Volunteers

Some clients are convinced that complementary therapies can help them stay healthy. Some clients swear by the alternative healing modality has help them to maintain their health. Alternative medicine, complementary therapies, holistic practices, natural healthcare, integrative medicine--these are a few of the terms used nowadays to describe a wide array of healing practices that fall outside purely medical and pharmaceutical. GMOL is looking for Alternative Care Healers, Energy Healing, Therapeutic Touch, meditation, art therapy, sound healing, music therapy, pet therapy, laughter therapy, food is medicine- farmers and gardeners to provide fresh, organic produce, herbs, honey, eggs and other garden goodies, spiritual prayer support, nature time, gentle chair exercise. Providers will receive training in advance care planning, goals of care conversation, screening, advance directive education and training with form completion, resource allocation and connection, and care coordination activities.

A few years ago, complementary and alternative medicine was defined as therapies that were not taught in medical school or offered in mainstream hospitals. But this no longer applies. Many complementary and alternative therapies are now offered in clinics and hospitals around the country and their use and acceptance is growing rapidly. This is reflected in a new name used in many healthcare settings: "integrative therapies."

But whether you say integrative or complementary therapies, or holistic practices, or something else, it refers to the same thing-a wide array of healing practices that fall outside purely medical, pharmaceutical or surgical treatments.

4. AC Golden Volunteers: Gardeners, Farmers, Artist, Musicians, Writer, Readers, Listeners & Photographers -Retired Team: Older adults who volunteer are highly reliable, want to be useful, have a sense of the public interest and public good, and are energetic enough to do the job if you describe it to them accurately.

In addition, when they see the big picture, they’ll do menial but essential tasks cheerfully, providing they are treated well. Most of them have life wisdom to offer and can make appropriate complex decisions if they understand your organizational culture.

Best of all, they have a very strong work ethic and are highly reliable about doing what they say they will do. AC GMOL Volunteer program want to train seniors citizen volunteers in advance care planning education, training and home visit, Friendly Visitor Program and program operations. Other Volunteer opportunities include:

• Make A Wish Come True for a NODA Client NOW! - Letter writing campaigns on behalf clients who are facing the end of their lives with an aim to reach out to community based organizations (CBOs), business owners, funding sources to tell them a little about our clients and the wishes they have shared with us
• Friendly Visits, NODA - No One Dies Alone - Meaning & Legacy Art Projects, Candlelight Vigil and end of life ceremonies, rituals, and celebrations of life activities to promote closure, healing and well-being for the care providers, family and loved ones left behind.
• Clean up around the house, such as washing windows, vacuuming, dusting, laundry and mopping
• Yard Maintenance such as weeding and pruning. (We use no power tools!) AC Volunteer Farmers to assist and instruct Students.
• Home Organization
• Make A Wish Come True for a NODA Client NOW! - Letter writing campaigns on behalf clients who are facing the end of their lives with an aim to reach out to community based organizations (CBOs), business owners, funding sources to tell them a little about our clients and the wishes they have shared with us

5. Calling All Students, any age, with their interest and talent you can partner with AC teams to support people who are not feel well, who may be preparing to die soon and seniors who are getting very weak. We help our clients feel better with a friendly visit to say hello, talk about the things they want to talk about, listen to their stories about when they were young like you. You might help them color in a drawing book, or make a fun art project you learned in school and they would love to hear you sing a lullaby, a song or bring your instrument and play a song. Bring your friends and put on a show! These things can help make an elder feel better.

• Our GMOL Inter-generational program, will focus on with primary and secondary high school students visiting seniors after school and on weekends in supervised groups to help seniors in their communities and at their faith-based organizations. It is our aim to put 100 students to work in AC Volunteer and Training programs give our students practice opportunities to create excellence for themselves and other and gain access to valuable mentors, partnerships and work experience to expand their lives in creative and meaningful ways that will serve as a foundation in service that will carry our students as they grow through the help of adult volunteers.
• Not unlike the adult volunteer program, students in the program also go through orientation and training that helps sensitize them to the challenges seniors, serious and terminally ill clients face daily. Students work in teams and gain valuable experience to developed an excellent reputation for big projects like yard work, decorating for the holidays, cleaning up after the holidays, or spending the afternoon sharing their views on current events and economics.

Our Student Volunteers visit under supervision and may be able to provide:

• Friendly Visits
• Clean up around the house, such as washing windows, vacuuming, dusting, laundry and mopping
• Yard Maintenance such as weeding and pruning. (We use no power tools!) AC Volunteer Farmers to assist and instruct Students.
• Home Organization
• Fun things in the home, telling stories, baking cookies, singing, reading, laughing, playing music, taking picture,
• Make A Wish Come True for a NODA Client NOW! - Letter writing campaigns on behalf clients who are facing the end of their lives with an aim to reach out to community based organizations (CBOs), business owners, funding sources to tell them a little about our clients and the wishes they have shared with us

About our Student Volunteers...

• Work in supervised teams after school and on the weekends,
• Attend workshops and trainings so they can be the best volunteers possible where they learn about elders, why they not be feeling well, and what we can do to help.
• Work with professions from nationally recognized universities and colleges who serve as mentors, coach, living examples of success, write letters of recommendations, and mentor students
• Meet other happy & successful professionals and AC Volunteers who serve
• Return to serve as Adult Volunteers
• Develop an appreciation for community service

AC Benefits for AC Student Volunteers

• GMOL to provide transportation to and from the seniors’ homes.
• $1,000.00 Stipend for 10 months of service, 10 hours per week, 5 two-hour senior home visits per week, 20 home visit per month, total 40 hours per month, paid monthly Stipend.
• AC HR hiring preference - Volunteers get hired first
• AC Student Volunteer Appreciation activities, events and celebrations
• AC Perks - invitations to our AC events, our staff activities, trainings and classes offered for AC Team
• Mentorship, coaching, course work tutoring, reference and letters of recommendation, and verifiable AC work training and experience helps when applying to university and for jobs.

4 ways Volunteering helps you to feel healthier and happier

• Volunteering connects you to others
• Volunteering is good for your mind and body
• Volunteering can advance your career
• Volunteering brings fun and fulfillment to your life