Need loving caring Hospice Volunteers

Save to Favorites

Volunteers are an integral part of the hospice team, filling roles that range from direct contact with patients to providing clerical support for the organization. Hospices that participate with Medicare are required to utilize volunteers alongside their paid clinical and administrative staff. Hospice volunteers describe their work as gratifying, intellectually stimulating, and emotionally meaningful. Hospices require a lot from their volunteers and value them greatly.

Support for patients
This can include visiting, reading, taking walks, writing letters, interpreting for those who do not speak English, bringing in music, and supervising therapeutic visits with pets. Volunteers with necessary certification can also provide massage therapy.

Respite and support for family members
Volunteers can assist with shopping or light household maintenance, or allow family caregivers the opportunity to take care of necessary errands, exercise, or simply have some time alone. Volunteers can also help care for a family pet.

Most hospices require volunteers to be over the age of 18 or 21, but some have volunteer programs for high school students. It is not uncommon for people whose loved one died in hospice care to want to volunteer for the hospice provider soon after the death, but most hospices require newly bereaved volunteer candidates to wait for a period of time before volunteering at the bedside. Hospices typically require prospective volunteers to submit to a background check, usually at the hospice's expense. To ensure that volunteers are equipped for the challenge of working with the dying, they are required to complete extensive orientation and training sessions. A hospice may require volunteers to have a valid driver's license, particularly if the volunteer will be traveling to patient homes.