Volunteering with Hospice: Provide Quality of Life While Enriching Your Own

February 2023 Blog

If you’ve been touched by the power of community these past few years and are looking to give back, January is the time for New Year’s resolutions, and Hospice of Orange & Sullivan Counties (HOSC) is where volunteers make a tangible difference. HOSC has long understood that neighbors can comfort. We’ve spent more than 30 years cultivating a compassionate environment, where patients and their families are tended to by team members who live and work in Orange and Sullivan counties. They’re not all nurses, doctors, and admins, however. 

 

Volunteer opportunities at HOSC are as varied as the needs of our patients. They can range from administrative support to simply holding a patient’s hand or lending an ear. Regardless of the roles our volunteers play, HOSC offers specialized training to ensure they are well-prepared, sensitized, and confident.

Volunteers enrich patients’ quality of life and alleviate the stress placed on caregivers. The great comfort they provide can come from work as simple as: 

• Companionship 
• Letter-writing or journaling/video messages 
• Assistance with hobbies or crafts 
• Help organizing paperwork 
• Playing card or board games 

• Celebrating special occasions 
• Being a friend 

Volunteers also have the distinction of keeping Hospice Vigils. This kind of support provides compassion, comfort, understanding, and presence at the bedside during the final hours of life. The vigil volunteer also offers emotional, spiritual, and practical support to caregivers. 

Even after a patient’s passing, volunteers offer bereavement support by listening to family members and providing a supportive environment for them to grieve.

For the artistically inclined, there are even opportunities to memorialize patients through our Hospice Celebration of Life program. This is a presentation of a patient’s life told through scrapbooking. These scrapbooks are created by talented and experienced Hospice volunteers who work with patients and families to compile these beautiful keepsakes.

Whether you are looking to provide quiet company, utilize office skills, or apply your creative flair to a worthy cause, Hospice of Orange & Sullivan Counties can help you make 2023 a year full of meaning and care. To learn more, click here, or contact our Volunteer Department at [email protected] or (845) 561-6111 ext. 214 to see how you can make a difference!