Veterans support Veterans in Hospice

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Residential (formerly NorthShore) Hospice is seeking Veteran Volunteers to support Veteran patients and their families through their end-of-life journey. Hospice patients have a terminal diagnosis and a limited life expectancy, and they and their loved ones are often dealing with many emotional stressors while in the care of hospice.

Why we need Veteran Volunteers:
1. Veterans share a common language, experience and culture that other volunteers may not be able to bring to the relationship
2. Some Veteran patients only feel comfortable reminiscing and sharing their stories with other Vets. Some hospice patients feel the need to process their stories and combat experience to obtain closure, and a Veteran volunteer can help them do that.
3. Veteran volunteers may have knowledge about the VA system and benefits that other volunteers would not.
4. Veteran volunteers can help us honor the vets we have on service, many of whom served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

Veteran volunteers can help in a variety of ways, from giving our patients the chance to talk, reminisce and have some companionship, to assisting us in ceremonies to honor the veterans on our service, to helping our staff get patients and families the VA benefits they need and have earned.
We know that many Veterans are born volunteers, and often volunteering is what made them into a Veteran in the first place. No experience with healthcare is necessary - to be a good hospice volunteer you need only to be dependable and punctual, flexible and patient, non-judgmental and friendly, a good listener and kind-hearted. We would welcome a group from a local American Legion or VFW who are willing to be part of a color guard and work as a team or individually.

Qualifications:

• Volunteers must be 18 or older, and must be willing to commit to volunteering for 2-3 hours/week for a minimum of one full year.
• Volunteers must be willing to complete a health assessment that includes a physical, a blood screening for infectious disease and a Tb test and a drug test.
• Volunteers must have the Covid Vaccine
• Volunteers must have a social security number and complete paperwork for us to run a background check.
• Volunteers must be willing to complete our Volunteer Orientation process, which takes 5-10 hours depending on volunteer experience
• If a volunteer has had a recent loss of a close family member or friend, we ask that they wait 12 months before applying to volunteer with hospice.
• We ask that volunteers have their own transportation to get to/from their patient's homes.

If this role sounds like a good fit for you, please get in touch to arrange an interview - we look forward to hearing from you!