If you are a prospective hospice volunteer, you have come to the right place. The
Hospice Volunteer Association (HVA) can assist you in connecting with a hospice
in your local area. We hope the following information will be helpful to you in
making your decision to become a volunteer.
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A DVD that you might find useful is So You Want To Be
A Hospice Volunteer. This video has interviews with several hospice
volunteers. A short 7-minute clip is shown below:
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If you would like to purchase this DVD,
click here.
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Before the modern technological age it was the norm for families to care for
their dying at home. The modern age of medicine has turned dying into a medical
event often requiring the dying to be moved from their homes into medical institutions.
Prior to this age of modern health care, family members would simply follow their
hearts with a loving intention, and with guidance from medical professionals they
would care for their loved ones at home. This allowed people to die in a familiar
environment surrounded by friends and family.
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The roles of volunteers are actually quite diverse but volunteers are commonly divided
into two major categories: (1) those who are directly involved with the care of
the dying person and their family, and (2) those who indirectly support the dying
by providing services directly to the hospice.
While all of us have the innate ability to provide compassionate care to a loved
one who is dying, our lack of confidence in our caregiving abilities, along with
the fears associated with confronting death in such an intimate way, interferes
with our instincts to serve.
This is where hospice volunteer training is instrumental
in preparing a prospective volunteer to serve the dying and their families.
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The average time a volunteer spends volunteering is 4 hours per week.
Typically a hospice would like you to commit to one year of volunteering.
Generally if you have had a very significant loss in your life, perhaps a spouse,
sibling, or parent, the hospice will carefully assess your readiness to serve as
a volunteer. If you are still grieving that loss, it can interfere with your ability
to serve others who are dying. Most hospices will recommend that you wait 6 months
to a year before volunteering.
Most hospice volunteer applicants are now required to permit the hospice to do a
criminal background check before accepting them into their training program. Each
state has their own requirements.
Most hospices are paid through the Medicare benefit. The federal Medicare laws state
that to receive Medicare payments for services rendered, a hospice must meet the
mandate that hospices maintain a volunteer staff �to provide administrative
or direct patient care in an amount that, at a minimum, equals 5 percent of the
total patient care hours of all paid hospice employees and contract staff.�
Hospice volunteers come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and professions.
This diversity of life experience increases the likelihood that a hospice will be
able to provide volunteers that will be compatible with the broad spectrum of individual
needs presented by the population at large.
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Volunteers are most often perceived by hospice patients as just ordinary people
from the community. As a result of this relationship, volunteers are able to help
normalize the hospice experience for patients and families. This is very beneficial
to the hospice team because volunteers are able to spend more time with patients
and their families, providing an increased involvement in putting them at ease and
gaining their trust. This often allows the volunteer to gain deeper insights into
the patient�s ongoing experience with their hospice care and thus provide very valuable
feedback to the clinical team.
The training that a hospice volunteer requires is dependent upon the role the volunteer
will play in the organization served. Those who serve in the role of direct patient
care and family support, often referred to as patient care volunteers, require specialized
training in order to acquire all of the skills and competencies necessary.
For example, there are many sensitive issues to be aware of and communications skills
to be learned. This is where hospice volunteer training is instrumental in preparing
a prospective volunteer to serve the dying and their families.
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Those volunteers serving in a role that does not involve patient care require only
sufficient training to perform the specific task that they will be involved in while
supporting the hospice. These volunteers, often referred to as administrative/general
support volunteers, may work in the office assisting with administrative tasks,
assisting with fundraising campaigns and events, or possibly working in the kitchen
in some capacity, etc. These are generally tasks that involve little or no interaction
with the dying person or their family but are very important to hospice operations.
Their training would also include any general policies and procedures training of
the agency such as fire and safety training.
Volunteer training is typically 20-30 hours, spread over several weeks.
Presently there are no standards for volunteer training and certification (HVA is
presently working on this problem). Therefore, many hospices will require that you
take their volunteer training. You may be able to skip some portions of the training
and only take those that are new to you or unique to that specific hospice. We recommend
that you let the volunteer coordinator know that you have had previous training
and take it from there.
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