Hospice of Hilo is looking to add to its volunteer team and will conduct a training session in October for people of the community interested in giving a few hours a week to uplift others.
Hospice of Hilo is looking to add to its volunteer team and will conduct a training session in October for people of the community interested in giving a few hours a week to uplift others.
“I do it because it is the right thing to do in my heart,” said Linda Marquez, who enjoys the interaction she has with patients and staff and began volunteering after she saw the difference hospice care made for her mom and other friends.
New volunteers can choose to provide services such as giving family members a break from caregiving, companionship, transportation, light housework, yard work or administrative support.
Hospice needs people with flexible schedules and are adaptable and nonjudgmental. There is a special need for licensed massage therapists who want to share their gift of care, and volunteers who would accept a shift on a night or weekend.
“Having compassionate volunteers is really a gift — to the organization, patients and families,” said hospice spiritual counselor Rebekah Bernard. “They are an important part of the team and crucial to many individuals’ peaceful end-of-life experience.”
The training times and dates are 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Oct. 19-20 and 23-24. Presentation topics will include learning the hospice concept, signs and symptoms of dying, communicating with the terminally ill, grief and bereavement, and having good boundaries.
Interested trainees can contact volunteer manager Jeanette Mochida at jeanettem@hospiceofhilo.org or 969-1733 to arrange a required pre-training interview no later than Oct. 13.