I volunteered a little while back at a home health/hospice, and spent my volunteer time driving out to folks homes and spending time with the hospice pts. I've sinced moved out of town, found a new hospice, and I'm planning to volunteer there in the inpatient setting. There are all different kinds of hospice experiences, depending on what your preferences are. From sitting with the patients and talking, to playing board games, perhaps driving patients/family members on errands or to functions, to bathing patients in an inpatient unit.
I personally did a lot of talking, listening, playing scrabble, putting pts to bed, helping them eat, etc. I saw two patients a week, each visit was about 2 hours of chatting/helping with whatever needed doing.
It really helps if you're comfortable around people--every patient copes with dying in different ways, and it's good if you can understand that and go with it by being supportive in whatever way the patient needs. Listening is a huge skill they teach you in "Hospice Class", which is usually a series of lectures all volunteers have to attend before they let you volunteer unsupervised.
It really gives you an amazing insight into the dying process. Be honest with yourself for your own reasons for doing it--if you think through your own experiences with loss and death, and recognize your motivation and what you hope to gain from the experience, it will make it that much more rewarding. How the volunteer copes with death is a very important part of volunteering, too. Patients might ask you for your own personal beliefs, and some may confide in you their hopes and fears. It's not important that you be old and wise and know just the right things to say; but it is important to be honest with yourself and listen as best as you can to the needs and emotions of the patient.
Hope that helps. 🙂 Feel free to PM me to chat more if you'd like.
