| Hospice Volunteers
Volunteers play an important role in the lives of hospice patients and their families—offering respite, comfort, and day-to-day support.
Life’s Doors utilizes volunteers for both patient care and administrative tasks. We invite you to get involved in either type of service, or both.
All volunteers are required to complete a 12-hour training program through Life’s Doors. Training includes patient care, emotional support, self-care, and end-of-life issues. Volunteers are also required to complete criminal background checks as part of the application process.
Patient Care
Patient care volunteers provide a variety of support services for patients and families in homes or health care facilities. Volunteer visits normally average two hours once a week, and may occur on a weekday, evening, or on weekends. Some of the services a patient care volunteer may provide include:
- Visiting and companionship: active listening, life review, letter writing, household errands, reading, table games, and assembling memory books.
- Respite for family and caregivers: staying with the patient while family members and caregivers run errands, sleep, or attend to personal care tasks.
- Errands: assisting with grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions and supplies, banking needs.
- Home/House tasks: light housekeeping, dishwashing and laundry, meal preparation, childcare.
- Special interest activities: assisting the patient with hobbies, gardening, games, sports, travel, crafts, fishing trips, religious activities.
- Telephone contact: maintaining contact with the patients and families on a regular basis as needed.
- Bereavement support: supporting families after the patient’s death by attending funerals, sending cards or letters, making phone calls and visits. Specially trained volunteers assist the Life’s Doors Bereavement Coordinator by attending and facilitating bereavement groups.
Administrative
Administrative volunteers help the Volunteer Director in several office-related capacities, as follows:
- Volunteer facilitators assist the Volunteer Director in phoning volunteers, team-building activities, encouragement and support, event planning, preparation, meals, set-up and clean-up.
- Administrative assistants assist the Volunteer Director with filing, typing, mailing, collating, and newsletter production and distribution.
- Training assistants help train new volunteers and facilitate continuing education for all volunteers.
For more information about volunteering for Life’s Doors, please call the Volunteer Director at (208) 344-6500.
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