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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Hospice Volunteer Research, Appreciation (Video 3:25)


Iowa City, Iowa Hospice Volunteer Appreciation Photo


Hospice volunteers play a vital role in the success of hospice organizations throughout the country.  During the month of April, these volunteers and many other volunteers will receive tokens of appreciation for their services. In recent years, several research projects have focused on hospice volunteers’ efforts by examining evidence of their work as end-of-life caregivers. The following hospice volunteer research results were conclusions of 54 studies:

What We Know About Hospice Volunteers

1)     We know the various roles hospice volunteers play, the stresses they experience, and the satisfying rewards they receive from their service.
2)     Less is known about how to successfully recruit, prepare, and retain them.
3)     A small body of information exists regarding the positive contributions volunteers make in the lives of families and in the longevity of patients.

What We Need To Know More About Hospice Volunteers

1)     While we know hospice volunteers play an important role in the lives of patients they serve, more research is needed on their important end-of-life contributions.
2)     Future research should focus more on ways to maximize contributions of hospice volunteers and provide them with needed support.

Thank you to volunteers everywhere for all you do to make the world a better place. “To the world you may be one person. But, to one person, you may be the world. “   Anonymous
        
This Reflections of a Hospice Volunteer video includes a poem highlighting my experiences as a hospice volunteer in Detroit, Michigan nursing homes:




Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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