Hospital seeks volunteers for hospice

Long Beach Memorial Medical Center is seeking volunteers for its hospice program, which offers support, comfort and friendship to terminally ill patients in their homes.

Hospices were started in 1950 by a doctor who believed that a person should not have to die in pain or alone. Since the emergence of hospices in the United States in 1970, there are now 2500 of them in the country.

Carmenanne Tolksdorf, coordinator of the hospice program at Long Beach Memorial, explained that when patients are diagnosed with a terminal illness, they sometimes choose to die in the comfort of their own homes. Also at that time, they may decide to join hospice programs.

The volunteer will be a part of the Multiple Discipline Team, which consists of a hospice nurse, a social worker, a chaplain and a bath nurse who cares for the patient and his or her family.

"The team considers the whole family as a unit and not just the patient," Tolksdorf said.

The hospice team helps the family members work through their feelings, emotions and also helps them to prepare for what is to come. The team also addresses issues such as death and a person’s own mortality.

Volunteers will go through a 20-hour training program before going into the home.

"The training class alone is so valuable because we have professionals teaching every one of them, and it is free," Tolksdorf said.

Being a volunteer not only looks good on the resume, but more importantly, it is very rewarding, she said.

"You get much more out of volunteering than what you put in," she said. "We take so many things in life for granted. The simple things, like going for a walk, looking out your front yard and being able to read the newspaper, are what we bring back to the patients."

The duties of the volunteer depend on the needs of the family. He or she would assist the primary caregiver, which is usually a family member who is with the patient 24 hours a day.

The volunteer would also help out by caring for the patient while the primary caregiver is out running errands or by doing light housework.

"I’ve had volunteers just go and read the newspaper for the patient because she couldn’t anymore due to her illness," Tolksdorf said.

Tolksdorf explained that often the patients will confide in the volunteers about what is bothering them before confiding in anyone else.

"The volunteer is seen as a friend, whereas the nurse is seen as someone who just gives the medicine," she said. "The family starts pulling away towards the middle and end of the patient’s illness and this is when the volunteer becomes the most valuable.

A patient of the hospice program once said, 'I love being in a hospice because the hospice team brings a little of the world to me every day, and takes a little of me to the world.'"

Those interested in more information about the program or about volunteering should call (310) 933-2188.