Duke Hospice Volunteers
Caring for our patients, their loved ones, and each other
Duke Hospice Volunteer Newsletter
July 2013
In an ongoing effort to protect our patients, their loved ones, and each other, Duke University Health System has updated the “Healthcare Worker Flu Vaccination Policy and Procedure.” Effective with this upcoming flu season all DUHS healthcare workers, including Hock, Meadowlands, bereavement, administrative, and patient / family support volunteers, will be required to be vaccinated against the flu, unless exempt for medical or religious reasons. The complete revised policy can be found at http://marlowe.duhs.duke.edu/__852567910041C0C3.nsf/0/05C9ED24B1E8F05385257A070074D5B2?Open&Highlight=0,Influenza. Vaccinations will be offered at the Durham office according to a schedule to be announced later. Applications for medical and religious exemptions must be filed no later than Friday, September 13, 2013. Applicants for exemptions will be notified no later than Friday, October 11, 2013, whether their exemption has been granted or not. The deadline for being vaccinated is Friday, December 6, 2013. If you have questions or concerns about the change in this policy, please call Carolyn.
The power of music: A small singing group made up of a patient’s family gathered around the Fuchs piano at the Hock Family Pavilion on Saturday evening. The patient had “lingered” (according to her daughter) at Hock for over two weeks and the family had come together that evening to “sing her home.” Not only did their loving gift help their matriarch go home (she died the next day), but their musical gifts were spread around the building to all the patients and families, one of which asked for a hymn that was scheduled to be played at a funeral already planned. Nurse Jean Bollinger, a witness to this celebration, says, “This is part of the amazing dynamic of healing at HFP: families sharing this journey tougher—supporting each other in so many ways. I am always humbled when I witness one family helping another family, with words of support, sharing food, sharing stories, sharing music and so much more.”
Hospice Quilting Bee: Hospice IPU Transitions Coverlet Tie it on: A new ritual has started at the Hock Family Pavilion: when a patient’s body leaves the facility, the gurney is topped with the Transitions Coverlet, a pall designed and made by Sue Blancato, and the staff and volunteers line the corridor to the exit where the funeral home car awaits. The quilting bee was a great success. If you have crafty hands or would like to learn some new skills, please join Sue at the Durham office on Saturday, June 29, from 10-1 to use a hand-tying technique to finish the coverlet. Give Sue a call at 919-638-1738 or send a note to .
Our next Patient / family support volunteer training will be held Friday-Sunday, July 26-28, at the Durham office. We have a particular need for volunteers who can live or work or can travel to Granville, Vance, or Franklin counties. As you know, it is much easier to provide support to patients and families who live nearby than it is to travel a distance. If you know likely candidates from these areas or have an idea about how we can recruit volunteers in these counties, please give Carolyn a call. Using the “6 degrees of separation” theory, we are probably only one or two phone calls away from the right faith community, service group, or social service agency with a constituency of men and women who would be excellent hospice volunteers if they only knew how much they were needed.
Volunteer Training for Hock Family Pavilion Volunteer Ambassador / receptionists will be offered in July. If you or anyone you know are interested, please contact Carolyn.
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 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. http://thevolunteercenter.org/tp42/Page.asp?ID=146698
Our next Admission Packet Assembly (aka PAPER SLAM!) workday will be Saturday, July 13, 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. When you see how many packets can be assembled for the different needs of our hospice, you will understand just how delighted the staff is by the results of this continuing project. Please grab a friend or two, your book group, your lunch group, or your teen’s BFFs, and come along. Snacks are on us!
Duke Hospice Care Shawl Meeting, Thursday, July 25, 7 p.m. at Chapel Hill Bible Church. If you like to knit or crochet or want to learn please consider joining us. Contact Helen Cooper for information or support at . Since this 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, Helen will get you going in no time at all. It has come to our attention that some people who have no crafty genes and who don’t want to learn to knit still like shopping for yarn. If you would like to partner with a knitter to purchase some yarn for a particular project, give Carolyn a call, and she can pair you up. We have a request for Caron 6 oz. Simply Soft yarn (2 skeins are needed for each shawl). Some partner is waiting for yarn and some patient is waiting for your gift of love. Shawls and yarn can be donated at any time by dropping them off at the Durham office.
In your visits to home patients you might see something new and beautiful on your patients’ pillow: gorgeous butterfly pillowcases have been created by Common Thread Ministry. If you would like more information please call Carolyn.
The Children’s Bereavement program could use a little help on a regular basis, help you could do at home in your spare time with your unwanted magazines and a pair of scissors. Projects the children work on in both the spring and fall could benefit from photographs depicting a number of themes (cars, nature, animals, hearts, etc.) clipped from magazines. If you’d be interested in how this project works and a complete list of the photos wanted, please give Carolyn a call and she will send you the full information.
Each month we are offering a Monthly Moment of Remembrance for Duke Hospice staff and volunteers. This monthly event is an opportunity to pause to reflect on the patients who have died on service in the previous few weeks or months. Surrounded by men and women who uniquely understand your experience, you will find this gathering a recognition of your service and loss. You are cordially invited. Call Carolyn for more information.
Summer Reading:
“A Good Death: Like Sue Otterbourg, More People are Taking Control of the End” by Barry Yeoman in The Indy Week (June 12, 2013) describes the end-of-life choices that kept Sue Otterbourg out of the hospital, out of pain, out of the scramble for extra days at the expense of seriously unpleasant side effects. In her final months, she and her husband, Bob, got their financial house in order, found a retirement community for Bob, traveled, and in her final weeks Sue shopped for groceries, checked books out of the library, and played a winning game of backgammon with her son-in-law—in short, she lived fully to the end. Duke Hospice helped. If you’d like to read the article, go to
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/Search?cx=005296826744349167695%3Alvszicpnne0&cof=FORID%3A9&q=good+death&sa=Search&siteurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indyweek.com%2F
· This summer the Durham Herald Sun will profile two of our Key Volunteer nominees, Annie Hassell and Sue Graham. The article on Annie should run July 7th, and Sue’s article will run sometime in August. Now Durham will know just how special our volunteers really are.
Book Notes:
The Volunteer Services library has just received a copy of The Needs of the Dying: A Guide for Bringing Hope, Comfort, and Love to Life’s Final Chapter by David Kessler. Kessler starts with a list of 16 Needs of the Dying and explicates those needs in chapters full of stories that address the productive and non-productive ways families, patients, and medical staff address those needs. A great read for the person in the bed or the one sitting by the bed.
We have also received another copy of Passed On: African American Mourning Stories by Karla Holloway, which helps us segue into the DUHS Value of the Month.
ÄReminders:
Duke value of the month: Diversity—We embrace differences among people. It is worth a minute or two of close reading this definition as it relates to the Duke Hospice volunteer experience. Read the definition as a sentence and then take each word separately and savor its meaning in context. We. Who are we? How did you become a part of this “we”? Embrace. This doesn’t mean accept or tolerate or cope with. Embrace means to hold close. Differences. Among. People. Then read the definition again as a sentence. Can you, do you live this value? What can we do to help?
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.
Duke Hospice staff has been undergoing training in the RELATE: words that work program. We previewed a few examples of Words that Work in last month’s Continuing Education Article: Duke Hospice Patient Satisfaction from a Volunteer’s Viewpoint. And in upcoming months we will launch other elements of the RELATE (Reassure, Explain, Listen, Answer, Take action, Express appreciation) program as they pertain to our volunteers. We value your input on how to incorporate these elements into providing the best possible care for each of our community and each patient and family we serve.
One step we are taking to ensure that our programs are responsive to your needs is called Volunteer Rounding. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with fattening you up on cupcakes and chocolates. Rounding starts with a one-on-one conversation with Carolyn to gather your impressions and experiences as a volunteer: How are things going? What’s going well? Where are your challenges and where do we have opportunities to make things better? Is there anyone you want to acknowledge for a job well done? Rounding is different than a supervisory visit: there is no scoresheet, evaluation, or patient visit. This is all about you sharing your volunteer experience with Carolyn and the Duke Hospice Staff. If you’d like to participate, contact Carolyn.
One way to work to make sure that we are providing excellent care to our patients and families is by using the Press Ganey Survey to measure how we are doing. If you see ways we can improve our care or hear from your patients and families/caregivers about opportunities to improve please let Carolyn or their team know so we can follow up. Together we can achieve our goal to achieve excellence in all that we do.
A RESOURCE FOR YOU Continuing Education for July – Hurricane Preparedness
Summer is a time when we can experience lots unexpected severe weather. You safety is important to us so if severe weather is predicted please stay safe. If you have any questions about visits or scheduled volunteer activities that might be affected by the weather please check with Carolyn. The attached continuing education piece has some great insights.
We welcome your feedback on our continuing education pieces. Please contact Carolyn if you would like more information on a topic we cover in the newsletter or if you would like to suggest or write an article for a future 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
A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.
--Stewart Alsop, newspaper columnist and political analyst
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.
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