My Continuing Journey With Hospice

 In March 1989, I attended my first Hospice Volunteer orientation at Kaiser Permanente Hospice in San Diego, California. I continued to volunteer for hospice until I moved to Oregon in 2019. During my time as a volunteer, I took three years off for personal reasons, so I was a hospice volunteer for twenty-seven years before moving out of state.

Once I settled in Oregon, I set out to find another opportunity to volunteer at a hospice in my new place of residence. I scheduled an interview with the hospice at the VA, but the day the interview was scheduled was the day the country was locked down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so the interview was canceled.

Once the lockdown ended, I decided that I'd like to try again so I made an appointment for an interview with the volunteer coordinator at Mercy Hospice here in Roseburg. I filled out a lot of paperwork, got my TB test done, and got my badge. The volunteer coordinator was thrilled to have me volunteer because of my experience. I told her that during my.time in San Diego, I cofacilitated volunteer orientations as well as visiting patients and their families. I estimate that in San Diego, I had seventy to eighty patients during my time as a volunteer there.

A few years ago, I wrote a poem about hospice that I thought I'd share in this blog:

MY PATIENT, MY FRIEND

When I arrive, I smile at him.

I reach out and touch his hand.

Next, I look directly into his eyes.

My patient, my friend.

We communicate without words.

As he returns my smile, his eyes glisten.

I begin reading from a book.

My patient, my friend.

He asks the unasked question, "is it time to go?"

I reply, "whenever you're ready."

My patient, my friend.

His eyelids descend.

His breathing becomes shallow.

He ceases to breathe...no pulse. He is gone.

My...friend.