Hospice Volunteer

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Volunteers are the heart of hospice. The Paid hospice staff provides medical, spiritual, and psychological assistance. But the hospice volunteer provides a special kind of caring. Each volunteer brings a unique combination of experience, interests, and talents to the Hospice program. Filling the unique role between paid staff and loved ones, hospice volunteers are trained to help meet the needs of patients and their families along with the Hospice Team. Visits are scheduled by the Hospice Patient and Volunteer but are very flexible and always dictated by patient’s condition and needs. Volunteers are part of a team, a team that includes a doctor, nurse, aide, social worker, and chaplain. Volunteers providing direct patient care can often give the team feedback concerning issues that arise during their visit.

Volunteers perform many important duties, whether providing companionship in a patient home or nursing facility, assisting with a special event, administrative work in office, or remote, or other meaningful tasks.
Volunteers play a vital role that enables the hospice to meet the needs of patients.
Volunteers at three oaks hospice- East Texas say they receive more than they give when volunteering. People often become a hospice care volunteer after a loved one benefits from hospice care.

Patient/Family Support Volunteer visits patients and families in their home and nursing facilities. Volunteers provide companionship to both patient and family caregivers. They’re a caring friendly face for chatting, reading, playing games, watching TV or telling stories. Volunteer visits also offer respite to the family caregiver, who can take a break from caregiving- and even leave the house to run errands or relax.

Veteran to Veteran Volunteers: Veteran to veteran volunteers provide support from military veterans to Hospice veteran patients. Veterans often appreciate contact with another veteran- someone who personally experienced the culture of military service- even if they served during a different time or place. Veteran to Veteran volunteers may share stories and experiences assist with pinning, medal and blanket presentations, record stories for the family’s legacy. Three Oaks hospice is a proud participant in the national We Honor Veterans Program. Three Oaks provides thorough training, so volunteers feel comfortable and prepared for this rewarding service for their fellow Veterans.

Administrative Volunteer: Administrative Volunteers assist with office work, copying, filing, inventory, phone calls, notebooks, presentations, etc.

No matter who you are, what you’re like, how much education you have, or how much time you have to share, there’s a volunteer experience that will excite your interests and match your skills to meaningful services in our community.

Volunteer FAQ:

What kinds of things do Hospice Volunteers do?
Volunteers do everything from provide companionship to patients and families, to helping in our offices.

Do Hospice Volunteers need any kind of special experience or training?
Hospice volunteers don’t need any special experience, three oaks hospice provides the training needed to fulfill your volunteer responsibilities. Volunteering can be an opportunity to learn new skills or use the abilities you already possess.

What personal qualities make someone a good Hospice Volunteer?
Hospice volunteer should have good communication and listening skills, a nonjudgmental attitude, reliability, flexibility and compassion.

Id like to help, but I don’t have a lot of extra time. Can I still Volunteer?
YES! Three Oaks Hospice has many different types of volunteer opportunities, and some require as little to an hour to two a week. Just let us know how much time you’d like to give and we can find the right volunteer position for you.

I can only volunteer certain days and certain times can I still volunteer?
YES! We will always match your schedule!

What are the steps to becoming a Hospice Volunteer?
no matter what kind of volunteer position you’d like to do:
step one is to contact Raven Lawrence at rlawrence@threeoakshospice.com
step 2- Volunteer documents need to be filled out and can be completed in person or via docusign sent by email.
Step 3- a background check and TB test would need to be completed- Administrative volunteers do NOT have to have a TB test completed.
Step 4- We assign you an assignment/patient.

So.. Where do you fit in?
Volunteers are required to complete a comprehensive training course. The course is designed to help you understand the philosophy of hospice, caring for the terminally ill, grief and loss, as well as understanding the needs of the family. During training, the areas of volunteering are discussed and along with the volunteer coordinator matching those areas with interest, talents, and strength of YOU!

Hospice Volunteers- IT’S THE LAW!

One of the unique features of Hospice Care is the requirement that community volunteers must provide a minimum of 5% of total patient care hours. This was written in 1982 when hospice care became a Medicare benefit signed by President Ronald Reagan. The reasoning that volunteers would offer unique care and a point of view that the family or professional healthcare team would NOT be able to provide. Today, each and every Medicare-certified hospice trains volunteers to provide 5% of patient care hours.