Volunteers: Helping Rockland Hospice Help Others

This piece is the first in a three-part series profiling United Hospice of Rockland. Read the first here, and the second here.

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Volunteers are a key part of many organizations, and United Hospice of Rockland is no different.

About 275 people donate their time in various capacities to help the hospice provide care to dying patients and their families. These volunteers are interested in helping others in any way they can, said Noell Goldberg, coordinator for volunteer support services.

"There's an awareness that there are people who need help and there's all sorts of ways to help them," she said.

"Whatever type of talent or skill someone has as a volunteer, we can find a way to use them and make them feel like they're contributing," said Amy Stern, the organization's executive director.

There are two types of volunteers: direct care and non-direct care.

Direct care volunteers provide companionship, as well as emotional and practical support, to patients and their families. The volunteers receive extensive training for this work, which extends to several areas:

Vigil care: Volunteers attend to patients who are actively dying by offering emotional support to those approaching death and their families.

Spiritual care: Volunteers work with hospice chaplains to support and provide comfort to those seeking to understand the meaning of the end of life.

Bereavement: Volunteers make phone calls and/or visits to bereaved individuals and families in the community to offer support as they adjust to the loss of a loved one.

Companion calling: Volunteers make supportive phone calls to patients and family members in between visits from nurses, social workers, home health aides and clergy.

There's also a family bereavement program in which volunteers are trained in children's grief and can provide support to children and their families who have lost a loved one.

All of these volunteers must be able to sympathize with the patients and focus on their needs, Goldberg said.

"The volunteer needs to be able to put themself aside so they can be open to the needs of the person they're sitting with," she added.

The non-direct care volunteers handle areas such as office work, fund-raising, special events and community outreach, such as attending health fairs and community events representing United Hospice of Rockland. Hospice also offers has volunteers that offer massage care and recently began offering pet therapy. The fund-raising arm also includes a group of teens called Youth 4 Hospice that have various events throughout the year to help raise money.

While not helping in the direct care of the patients or provide support to their families, these volunteers as just as important in helping hospice achieve its goals and provide a "web of care," Goldberg said.

"It's a team effort," she explained. "That team concept also extends to the behind-the-scenes work and at every level there are people who are supporting the care level."

Quite a few of the hospice volunteers stay with the organization for many years, said Goldberg, who has been the volunteer coordinator for 10 years.

"Most people who come in to volunteer with us stay for a long time," she said.

Eileen Frawley, who's been a volunteer for 10 years, is such an example. The Valley Cottage resident was looking for some way to help people after her retirement and came upon hospice one day and thought it would be a good match.

It has been.

"I've totally enjoyed it and have met so many nice people," she said.

Frawley is a direct care provider and spends two or three days a week visiting patients in their homes or nursing homes; she also takes them to doctor's appointments when needed.

She said it feels good to help people, especially the ones with few family and friends around. The relationships she's forged with the families during theses brief encounters often last long past the patient's death, she said.

While her volunteer work can be sad at times, Frawley said she believes she has a positive impact of the patients and families.

"When they go, I feel sad, but if I can make someone's life a bit more comfortable their last few months then I'm happy," she said.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer can contact Goldberg at (845) 634-4974 x118 or at ngoldberg@hospiceofrockland.org.