If you’re volunteering for Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care, you may not be able to change a patient’s health outcome but you can make a positive difference in their journey.
Jenna Stamplicoski, Volunteer Co-ordinator, is sharing that message as she looks for more people who can donate time to the organization.
Hospice volunteers are needed to help patients who are on their death beds, and their families. They may work out of those patients’ homes or a hospice apartment inside St. Francis Memorial Hospital, Stamplicoski says.
She adds that many volunteers had to stop working after the pandemic hit. Though It still has a loyal group of about 50 volunteers, she says the organization could use double that number.
At any time, there could be 40 to 50 patients in palliative care, across the organization’s broad region.
Stampliicoski says volunteers might serve families by helping them with meals or other household duties and they also, in some cases, literally provide a shoulder to cry on.
Stamplicoski stresses that volunteers are not asked to provide services that are expected of a medical professional, but they can do the little things to ease the stress on grieving families.
Details on how to sign up can be found here.