Vigils and flower visits provide extra support
Vigils and flower visits provide extra support
Volunteers ensure that patients are not alone
[Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series that looks at the increasing importance of volunteers to hospice programs. Last month, we looked at how volunteer programs can positively affect hospice outcomes with innovations such as a Tuck-in Program and attention to volunteer expertise. This month, we'll examine 11th hour volunteer programs and further examine a community-based flower delivery and visitation program.]
It takes a special person to volunteer to sit with a patient who is dying, but Sandra Huster, director of volunteer services at Covenant Hospice in Pensacola, FL, never has trouble finding volunteers for her 11th Hour Program.
In fact, in 2009, 11th Hour volunteers sat with 276 patients for a total of 1,647 hours, Huster says. "We were able to fill 98% of the requests we received," she adds.
Patients served by 11th Hour volunteers are most often in a nursing home and either have no family to be with them or they have family members that are out of state and on their way but haven't arrived yet, says Huster. "When the interdisciplinary team determines that death will occur in the next 24 hours, and there is no one with the patient, they call me for a volunteer," explains Huster. "If the patient requires clinical care, a nurse stays with the patient, but if no clinical care is needed, a volunteer sits with the patient."
Volunteers are asked to work four-hour shifts, but there are many times a volunteer will ask to stay longer, says Huster. "Last year we created 11th hour baskets for the volunteers to take with them to their vigil," she says. The baskets contain a CD player and CDs with a range of music that can be played to create a calm environment, books with poetry and prayers the volunteer can read aloud, unscented lotion for hand massages, and note cards for the volunteer to write notes to the family about the patient's death. "The notes reassure family members that the patient was peaceful, pain free, and not alone," she says. The cost of the baskets, about $100 each, was paid for by donations, she adds. The baskets are reused and items replenished when needed.
People usually don't contact the hospice and ask to volunteer for the program, but they learn about it in the general orientation for all volunteers, says Huster. "Volunteers for the 11th Hour Program do require an additional training course after the initial orientation," she says. "They learn how to recognize the signs of dying, what to expect as the patient gets closer to death, and what they can do to help the patient be more comfortable."
Volunteers are taught how to give gentle hand massages, place an extra pillow under the patient, or turn the patient on his or her side to be more comfortable, says Huster. "We also make sure they know what to do at death," she says. The volunteer is responsible for going to the nurses' station at a nursing home to report the death and to call the hospice.
Although the volunteers are not expected to stay with the patient once family members arrive, there are times that they do stay to help the family, explains Huster. "They will make telephone calls for the family, sit with the patient while the family gets something to eat, or just listen to the family talk," she adds.
Covenant Hospice's 11th Hour Program grew out of a need identified within the hospice volunteer program, but hospice managers also should be aware of programs that start in the community but might fit into the hospice program.
Look within community for programs
Although she is discussing the possibility of affiliating with a South Georgia hospice, Marie Ansley of Cairo, GA, founded Flower Angels by herself with no affiliation to any hospice. Ansley was familiar with hospice because her husband received hospice care for two weeks before his death, and she remembered how much he enjoyed visitors.
"I realized that people send flowers to patients who are ill and that I could start a program to deliver flowers to hospice patients," she says.
"I started with a vase I bought at a dollar store, and I asked a florist if I could have the flowers that she would throw away," says Ansley. The florist said no to giving Ansley older flowers but instead volunteered to make arrangements with fresh flowers if Ansley would provide the vases.
As word spread of Ansley's plans, people started sharing names of friends or family members who were home hospice patients. Donations of vases starting showing up at her door. "The only way I could get names of patients was through word of mouth, but I have been getting as many names as I can handle," she says. She visited 12 patients on a weekly basis in the first few months of her program.
Ansley visits patients at the same time each week. "I go at the same time so the patient knows to expect me," she explains. "They call me the 'flower lady,' and we sit and talk," she says.
"I don't know how the local hospice found out about me, but the director of volunteers called and asked if I would be willing for my program to become part of her program," says Ansley. "We're talking about how it will work and what volunteers can help me because there will be many more patients to see."
Although Ansley would like the opportunity to expand her program, she is happy to continue what she's doing. "I may be 70 years old, but doing something good for other people makes me feel 50," Ansley says.
Sources
For more information about volunteer programs, contact:
Sandra Huster, Director, Volunteer Services, Covenant Hospice, 5041 N. 12th Ave., Pensacola, FL 32504. Telephone: (850) 202-1169. E-mail: [email protected].
Marie Ansley, Founder, Flower Angels. Telephone: (229) 377-9547.
This is the second of a two-part series that looks at the increasing importance of volunteers to hospice programs. Last month, we looked at how volunteer programs can positively affect hospice outcomes with innovations such as a Tuck-in Program and attention to volunteer expertise. This month, we'll examine 11th hour volunteer programs and further examine a community-based flower delivery and visitation program.Subscribe Now for Access
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