Asante Hospice Needs Volunteers in Grants Pass

March 14, 2011 - PRLog -- GRANTS PASS, Ore.--The Asante Hospice team needs new volunteers to give companionship to patients and respite for their families. Hospice volunteers provide a caring touch at a profound moment in the life of another person. It is deeply rewarding to both patient and volunteer.

“Volunteers share with me that they are honored to be present during someone’s end-of- life journey,” says Sally Melton director of volunteers. “Beyond this, they often state that this shared process helps them face their own mortality and prioritize their life choices.”

Kay Wood is a new volunteer in Grants Pass. “While working with a hospice patient, I have learned that no matter what stage we are in life, it is important to feel cared for, loved, respected, valued, and appreciated,” she says.

Wood became a volunteer when she retired from teaching. “I was too tired, too stressed, too busy, too involved with work and family to do any kind of volunteer work,” she recalls. “After adjusting to this wonderful freedom that retirement brings, it was time to volunteer.”

She chose Asante Hospice after reading a short article in the paper. “I was so impressed by the professional trainer, nurses, social workers, and support staff that I met. It didn’t take more than the first session to know that I had made the right choice,” she says. Wood believes that volunteering satisfies the desire to give back. “I have met some marvelous people and every experience continually reminds me of how very special it can be to just give of your self,” she says.

Another volunteer, Rita Henschen, says the experience is truly profound. She was reading the “Autobiography of Mark Twain,” and was struck by his description of Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, but could still tell people just by their touch.

“It made me think about the non verbal or almost non verbal hospice people I've spent time with,” Henschen says. “How they respond warmly to touch; holding my hand as I sat next to them but not speaking. It was like there was nothing else to say as it had all been said.” After she reads poems or devotional materials to patients, they will turn to look at her when she says she is leaving, but will be back. “They know someone has been there with them: precious moments by the bedside,” she says.

If you or someone you know would like more information about becoming a hospice volunteer please call Sally Melton at 541-789-6859.

For more information about Asante Hospice services, call 541-789-5005 or visit online at http://www.rvmc.org/RVMC/Medical-Services/rvmc_hospice/ho....

About Asante Hospice
Asante Hospice is a life-enhancing support system of nurses, social workers, care aides, and volunteers, who help patients live well and at home as they enter the end stages of life. In operation for more than 18 years, the Asante Hospice team consists of 27 nurses, 5 social workers, 5 care aides, 4 chaplains, and 45 active volunteers who served more than 675 families in 2010.

Visit our Media Centers:
Asante.org: http://www.asante.org/AboutUs/pressroom/index.aspx

RVMC.org: http://www.asante.org/rvmc/AboutUs/pressroom/index.aspx

TRCH.org: http://www.asante.org/trch/AboutUs/pressroom/index.aspx

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Asante Health System is a non-profit organization providing advanced medical care to over 550,000 people in Southern Oregon and Northern California. It includes Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford and Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.