Hospice volunteers, or Patient Care Volunteers, provide companionship, support and respite services to patients and their families. Upon completion of the required training program (which is offered several times throughout the year), volunteers can choose which part of our large geographical area they would like to concentrate on and are offered flexible choices in scheduling. Visits may include specific tasks such as reading to patients, playing cards, helping with correspondence or running errands. Sometimes simply sitting and watching a movie, holding a hand or being a caring presence in the room is all that is needed.
Old Colony Hospice has Specialized Volunteers who offer unique services that make optimal use of their volunteer skills and talents, while meeting a wide variety of patient needs. Specialized Volunteers have completed the required Volunteer Training, and then receive additional orientation as to their specific role. Specialized Volunteers include Complementary Therapies (Reiki, massage, and music therapy), Veteran Volunteers who are available for our patients who served in the armed forces, Vigil and Rosary Volunteers, as well as Bereavement Volunteers.
The Volunteers for Veterans program seeks to recognize and honor the contributions made by veterans as they near the end of life. A select group of patient-care volunteers (veterans themselves who represent all branches of the military) has received training on the unique skills needed to help acknowledge and support veterans, especially those who have been in combat, as they share their stories and memories. These stories, which speak of love and loss, courage and fear, youthful optimism and the wisdom of years passed, endure as a lasting legacy long after they have served.
In addition to having trained volunteers available to provide friendly visits and respite to veterans and their caregivers, Old Colony Hospice also presents each veteran with an individualized certificate, which commemorates their service to our country. These certificates create a meaningful yet simple reminder to express our gratitude and thank these men and women for their service. And yet, it is always the veteran and their family who seem to be more appreciative, often moved to tears by the gesture. As the wife of one veteran said, "with all the turmoil going on in the world today- i t would be easy to forget those that went before. You did not. We both thank you."
One of the Old Colony Hospice Veteran Volunteers was the recipient of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organizations “Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Award” in 2008.
Learn more about becoming a Patient Care Volunteer.