Volunteering Information

Hospice extends an excellent opportunity to you. Volunteering provides a wonderful self-expansion experience that is unlike anything else you can do. Volunteers are warm, selfless and have huge noble hearts. Volunteer service is considered so vital to hospice that Federal Medicare guidelines require that at least 5% of the hospice's care be provided by volunteers.

“The last good thing that may happen in a person's life
...is a hospice volunteer.”

There are many reasons why people choose to become community volunteers.

• Since the senseless tragedies of 9-11-2001, the percentage of volunteerism has risen in the United States.
• Some people are choosing community work, to make life seem more valuable and significant.
• Others may choose volunteerism for personal growth and a sense of caring for others.
• Some school courses require a certain amount of community work/volunteer hours for student credit or graduation. A hospice volunteer position would fill such a criteria.
• Sometimes churches reach out to their surrounding communities.

Whatever the motivation, volunteering is a great benefit for everyone involved!

Requirements of Potential Volunteers

• Completion of application
• Two written references on file
• Criminal background check
• Completion of volunteer training
• TB test or chest x-ray with negative results
• Completion of OSHA requirements
• Hepatitis B vaccine or a written statement declining the vaccine
• Signed Confidentiality Statement form

A person who volunteers is trained for the area in which they chose to serve. There are three areas with different classifications within those areas.

I. Administration Volunteer is a person who wants to volunteer but wants no direct patient contact. They may provide administrative assistance in the office setting. They may work doing paper work at the home setting. There are also volunteers who sew, knit and crochet projects during the year for patients. There are non-patient care volunteers who mow yards, shovel snow, run errands, etc.

II. Patient Care Volunteer is a person who wants to volunteer directly with patients, whether it is in the patient's own home, primary care giver's home, assisted living home, or nursing home.

III. Bereavement Volunteer is a person who wants to volunteer to go through the bereavement process with the patient and the family. This volunteer may start at the onset of accepting hospice services and continue on with the family thirteen months after the passing of their loved one. (Orientation training is required)

You have an opportunity to set the standard and example to all in your community when you volunteer. When you invest your time, your talents and your heart into hospice volunteering, you change a life... your own.

How Can I Help?
If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering, please feel free to stop by any of our locations. You may also complete the contact information page, call any Lion Hospice Office or send an email to volunteers@lionhospice.com for more information. Patient Care volunteer candidates are encouraged to delay their participation for one year following the loss of a loved one.