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Hospice Volunteers Bring Comfort and Find Joy
Jason McAvoy, Stanley R. Tippett Home
Manager, with volunteer Lisa Sankowski
Volunteering with terminally ill patients and their families isn’t about the big moments.
“You expect you are going to have these incredibly revelatory conversations. It’s the simple things that have moved me the most, like the smile you get when giving someone breakfast,” said Lisa Sankowski.
She’s one of more than 100 hospice volunteers with VNA Care Network & Hospice. While giving their time, they support hospice’s mission to help terminally ill patients and their loved ones live as fully as possible.
Hospice offers personalized care that addresses physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and practical needs. Trained volunteers round out the team of nurses, physicians, social workers, home health aides, and pastoral and bereavement counselors.
Care is provided in patients’ homes, assisted living communities, and nursing homes throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts as well as at the agency’s three hospice residences (Elizabeth Evarts de Rham Hospice Home at Chilton Street, Cambridge; Rose Monahan Hospice Home, Worcester; and Stanley R. Tippett Home, Needham).
Lisa began volunteering at the Tippett Home two years ago. “It’s a joy to come in,” she said. “It’s not about being with people who are dying. It’s about people who are living and experiencing the joy in that moment.”
She and other volunteers receive ongoing support from staff, special workshops, and a support group to share their experiences and learn more about end-of-life care. Genzyme Corporation is among the businesses and individual donors who provide much needed financial support of VNA Care Network & Hospice’s volunteer program.
The simple things that bring such meaning to volunteers are also an enormous comfort to patients and families — playing with a terminally ill child so parents can sneak in a nap, making a patient’s favorite meal, or holding someone’s hand as they share favorite memories.
Lisa is “grateful” for all that hospice has done for her. Over the years, several relatives have received hospice services. The care made difficult times easier. As a volunteer, she said, “I get so much more from hospice than I give.”