Volunteers Make A Difference
Our team of East End Hospice Volunteers are an incredible resource. They both give and receive many benefits from joining our program. Volunteers set their own levels of commitment based on their available time and the needs of our patients. They tell us the rewards are unparalleled.
Patient Family Volunteers
Patient family volunteers help by providing comfort, support, care and compassion to our patients and their family members. You can make a difference in many ways:
- Visiting or calling a patient or family member
- Providing companionship (from simple conversations to exploring deep feelings)
- Reading aloud or listening to music together
- Looking at photos together and sharing memories (life review)
- Writing letters
- Going for walks with a patient or family member
- Sitting with a patient so caregivers have free time (respite)
- Journaling (helping the patient record their history)
- Watching movies or playing games
- Helping with children
- Bereavement support
- Sharing a quiet moment
- Simply being present
Bereavement Volunteers
Bereavement volunteers offer companionship and support for bereaved family members after the loss of a loved one. The volunteers work under the direction of professional bereavement staff and receive special training. Bereavement Volunteers make a difference in a variety of ways:
- Making support calls
- Sending notes to a family
- Co-facilitating grief support groups
- Co-facilitating children’s grief support group
- Help at Camp Good Grief
Training & Support
- Patient Family Volunteers are required to complete a 18-hour volunteer training course which takes place in the Fall. This training gives volunteers the information they need to be prepared for their role as a Hospice volunteer. All Patient Family Volunteers must undergo a background check and annual TB test.
- Bereavement Volunteers are required to complete the Patient Volunteer Training and also required to complete an additional 10-hour bereavement training which takes place in the Spring. This training is designed to prepare new volunteers who will be working with individuals who have experienced a significant loss. All Bereavement Volunteers must undergo a background check and annual TB test
- Additional support meetings and educational opportunities are offered throughout the year as well as ongoing personal support and social gatherings.
How to Start Volunteering
Volunteer selection begins with an application and interview in which prospective volunteers may express their personal goals, availability, interests and talents. Of course, our volunteers are carefully screened and personal references are requested. Please contact the EEH Volunteer Coordinator at Susan DiSario at 631-288-8400 or email at volunteers@eeh.org.
An East End Hospice Volunteer
- Is a special and necessary member of the East End Hospice Team
- Is caring, open, and accepting of life
- Understands the challenges that face families and patients when confronted with a life-limiting illness.
- Affirms life not just by speaking but by doing
- Learns new interpersonal skills
- Makes possible what was once impossible
- Knows integrity means keeping promises to ourselves as well as others
- Gives back to life what was given to them
- Enriches their own life by enriching the lives of others
