Duke Hospice Volunteers
Caring for our patients, their loved ones, and each other
Duke Hospice Volunteer Newsletter
April 2013
Please join us Sunday April 21 at 1 pm
2013 Duke Hospice Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon
From the desk of Janine Cacciatore, Director, Duke Hospice:
Volunteer appreciation month gives us a chance to say thank you to all our volunteers and let you know how much we value all that you do. During this time of rapid change in healthcare, Duke Hospice volunteers truly live the Duke value of caring for our patients, their loved ones and each other. Consistently, we have volunteers who go above and beyond to help improve the quality of life for our patients and their families and community. The services you provide―whether it's sitting with a patient who needs companionship in the home or the Inpatient Facility, running errands, or giving a family member much needed time to themselves, serving as the face of hospice by volunteering as an ambassador at Hock Family pavilion, assisting our administrative staff, helping assemble admission packets, putting together the monthly bereavement mailing, raising funds to support our programs, providing support for our bereavement clients or youth at Camp ReLEAF or helping with special events―greatly enhance the overall service DHCH provides to our patients and families. When we need help you give it in whatever way you can. And it is evident to our staff that you give not only your hands and talents, you give our patients and families your heart. You, our cherished volunteers, represent the very best of the hospice movement. I personally want to thank you for all that you do to make Duke Hospicea premier provider of hospice care.
Each time I have a chance to talk to one of you or hear about the wonderful thingsyou are doing I am reminded of the integral part volunteers have played in the hospice movement and how important they remain to the future of hospice care. Hospice is the only federally funded health care reimbursement program that requires community trained volunteers to be a part of the clinical team. Just think about how significantly that requirement enhances hospice care. Caring people from all walks of life are trained to provide companionship, short periods of respite and a caring presence for hospice patients and families. Getting back to simpler times, before all the complexities of today’s health care, I think about who took care of those facing the end of life in the past. It was the families, friends and neighbors. They cared without training or many resources. If you would, the volunteer component embraces that same philosophy of community care. One of the many definitions of care is to freely give concern. I like that definition for it best describes just what our volunteers do for our patients and their loved ones. Thank you for the special kind of caring you provide every day.
I would also like to introduce Apollo Williams our new Assistant Director for Duke Hospice. Apollo will be providing clinical and supervisory support for the Home and PARTners programs. She comes to us with a strong clinical background that includes many years of hospice experience. As Apollo says “Volunteers are critical to the work we do. I have met several of our Duke Hospice volunteers and am amazed at the amount of hours/work they contribute in so many roles. We could not do all we do without the support and commitment of volunteers. As we embrace the ever-changing landscape of healthcare, and participate in developing new approaches to the provision of quality healthcare services known to Duke Home Care and Hospice, I see volunteers as an integral to our success. I look forward to meeting our volunteers and working with them.”
Please contact Carolyn if you would like more information on any of these volunteer opportunties.
The warm early weeks of our new year has us on the lookout for green-thumb volunteers to adopt the patios at the Meadowlands. Yes, yes, we know about late spring freezes but the seed catalogs in the mail have us starting to plan. Our handy gardening volunteers design, plant, and maintain the individual patio gardens adjacent to the 6 patient rooms at our inpatient care facility in Hillsborough. These gardens are a source of beauty and delight to our patients and their families during their time at the Meadowlands. If you can imagine a small oasis of color, texture, and fragrance to delight the senses and can bring that image to life, give Carolyn a call. If you are a designer but not a planter (or vice versa), we can match you up with a partner to share the work. You’ll be glad you did.
Hock Family Pavilion Volunteer Receptionist / Ambassadors training Saturday April 6 1-5 pm. . These volunteers staff the front desk, directing visitors, answering phones, assisting the staff and making the HFP a home away from home for people in need of a kind word and a comforting presence. We are also looking for more volunteers to play the HFP grand piano and offer music at the bedside and complementary therapies at Hock Family Paviliion and Hospice at the Meadowlands.
All our DHCH (hospice, infusion, home health care, and bereavement) programs value the volunteer support they receive and we have many requests for additional weekday clerical support at the Durham office as well as the Unicorn Bereavement Center in Hillsborough. These positions do not require the full patient / family training so you can start right away. If you have time to make a regular weekly commitment, please consider this important need. Junior Volunteers age 16 and older are welcome to apply to volunteer this summer through the Volunteer Center of Durham Mayor’s Award summer program.
Volunteers are also needed for special projects including:
· assist with creating staff profiles for our PARTner facilities (can be done at home)
· download audio recordings to CDs to give to our patients as part of our Gift of Words project.
Our next Admission Packet Assembly (aka PAPER SLAM!) workday will be Saturday, April 6, 2013 from 9 a.m. - noon at the Durham office. Call Carolyn if you would like to participate. This is a low investment / high impact project we undertake almost every month to keep the paper flow in the agency running smoothly. Please grab a friend or two and come along. Snacks are on us!
Hospice Care Shawl Meeting April 25 7pm at Chapel Hill Bible Church. Since the project’s inception hundreds of shawls have been given to hospice patients and families in need of a little boost of caring support. If you need a refresher course on needle skills you learned as a child or never knew, come along to our next Care Shawl meeting, Thursday, April 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Chapel Hill Bible Church. The gentle teaching / coaching attentions of Helen Cooper will get you going in no time at all. Some patient is waiting for your gift of love.
Monthly Moments of Remembrance for Duke Hospice staff and volunteers: we are exploring offering a monthly get together to allow our staff and volunteers to take a moment to remember the patients they have worked with who have died. If you are interested in participating please let Carolyn know.
Playmakers’ Spotlight on Service program offers Cabaret April 3-12. Enter the tantalizing world of The Kit Kat Klub in 1930s Berlin, where beguiling, self-destructive chanteuse Sally Bowles lives with no thought for tomorrow. One of the defining musicals of all time, Cabaret intertwines social history with dazzling entertainment in new and dangerous ways. The decadence of a Weimar nightclub becomes a shattered mirror reflecting a society spiraling toward disaster with the rise of Hitler’s Nazis. Contact Carolyn to be added to the e-mail list for notification when tickets for these and other shows offered through Playmakers Spotlight on Service.
Delta Rae Concert to Benefit Duke HomeCare & Hospice
The 11th annual “Oh, What a Night!” Gala will be held June 1, 2013, 6:30-11 pm at the Washington Duke Inn with the theme “Midnight in Paris.” featuring The Craig Woolard Band. Thanks to generous sponsors and in-kind donors the proceeds from “Oh, What a Night!” go directly to providing quality hospice care services for individuals receiving end of life care in their homes, at the Hock Family Pavilion in Durham and at The Meadowlands in Hillsborough. Individual seating at the gala is available at $125 and tables of ten are available at $1,250. (The 2012 gala was sold out with 360 guests in attendance.) Seating includes dinner, dancing, drinks, and both live and silent auctions featuring an array of vacation trips, unique jewelry, personal services, and much more! Enjoy a night on the town with us knowing you are helping individuals and families with much needed services right here in our community. To reserve your seating at the gala, or to ask questions, please call Dale Horton at 919-479-0318 or email her at .
Volunteer Continuing Education Opportunities:
· Below is the link to an article Scott Janssen recently had published in Social Work Today. It uses the story of the Lone Ranger, one of his all-time heros, as a lens for exploring the ways suffering, if we let it, can open our hearts. http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/exc_031513.shtml
· Weighing the End Of Life by Louise Aronson appeared in the New York Times February 2 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2-13/02/13/opinion/sunday/weighing-the-end-of-life.html?pagew
· With humor and sorrow, 'Life After Life' by Julie McCorkle, a hospice volunteer explores the area between life and death through a number of characters attached to a nursing home in a small town. Check out the NPR interview on All Things Considered March 22, 2013. We can organize a book discussion group for this book if there is enough interest.
· Beyond Kubler Ross New perspectives on death and dying Hospice Foundation webinar received great reviews from the volunteers who participated in March. We can schedule an evening or weekend session to watch and discuss this DVD if there is enough interest. Let Carolyn know if you are interested.
Kay Harmon, volunteer extraordinaire has donated 500 care shawls and 335 Hearts of Hospice bookmarks to our program. For the full story and pictures please check out the March 29, 2013 posting on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/DukeHomeCareHospice
(If you search our name on Facebook you will be led to a page that is not ours).
We share tips, interesting articles, health information and updates on volunteer activities on our Facebook page. Just remember, this is a social media site, so it should not be used to communicate confidential information. Please help us celebrate this exciting program by liking us on Facebook. Thanks to Kay for bringing comfort by sharing her talents with our patients.
to Duke Hospice Volunteer Donna Paschall, winner of a Duke Employee Community Service Award, for her patient family support volunteer work with our nursing home patients.
ÄReminders:
Duke value of the month: safety: Each of our volunteers contributes in so many ways to our ability to live a culture that ensures the safety and welfare of all patients, families, staff and volunteers.
· Speak up
· Active Listening
· Fully Present and Mindful
· Evaluate and support safe practices
· Team Communication
· You!!
Envelope alert: DHCH is no longer using the postage-paid business envelopes addressed to Duke Hospice PO Box 2997. If you have a supply of these envelopes, please destroy them and contact Carolyn for replacements.
If you have been logging miles with our volunteer program, your 2012 mileage record for income tax purposes is available. Contact Carolyn if you want to receive a copy of your reported mileage.
A RESOURCE FOR YOU Continuing Education for April: AHHC Volunteer Tribute Newsletter--Spotlight on Alzheimer’s’ Disease. Cindy Morgan from the Association for Hospice and Home Care of North Carolina, our state organization, is sending us a monthly newsletter for hospice volunteers. Attached is the most recent newsletter which offers great resources on working with Alzheimer’s patients.
Please let Carolyn know what you think of the ideas in this newsletter.
For more information contact:
Carolyn Colsher, DHCH Volunteer Services Supervisor
(919) 479-0385 (phone) (919) 970-0227 (pager)
Website: dhch.duhs.duke.edu
http://www.facebohttp://www.facebook.com/DukeHomeCareHospiceeCareHospice
“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” Marian Wright Edelman
And thank you, as always, for everything you do for our patients and families. Carolyn
Mission Statement: Duke HomeCare & Hospice will provide innovative, thoughtful care, using an interdisciplinary team approach, to achieve the best possible outcomes for the patients, families and communities we serve.
PLEASE JOIN US SUNDAY APRIL 21 AT 1 PM
2013 VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION LUNCHEON DURHAM OFFICE 4321 MEDICAL PARK DR STE 101
RSVP TO CAROLYN COLSHER BY APRIL 19
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