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Down East Hospice Volunteers has been providing free volunteer hospice care for 42 years in Washington County. We are state licensed and the training is mandatory to become a hospice volunteer. Background checks and Covid vaccine is required.
Training Dates:
September 25, 26, 29 Oct. 2, 3, 6. We may complete the training on October 3rd.
Time: 10:00 – 3:00 but usually ending each day by 2:00 – with breaks, time for lunch and time to go outside and get some fresh air.
To get an application – Call our Calais office – 454-7521 ext. 9126 soon!
E-mail us – downeasthospice@yahoo.com
Download from our web site – downeasthospicevolunteers.org
After I receive your application, I will set up a time for us to meet and have a short interview.
The training is fairly informal, with open conversation. I am interested in your thoughts and your feelings about end of life care. Please make the call and commit to join us for this Fall hospice volunteer training. All materials for the training are free.
Some topics during the training:
Family Dynamics / every situation is unique
Dealing with Stress / the stress the client and care givers are facing
Organ Donation
Universal Precautions
Spirituality
Body Mechanics
Grief & Loss
Alzheimer’s & Dementia,
Ethical Issues at end of Life
Medicare Hospice Benefit
Advance Directives
Death with Dignity Act, it’s facts and myths.
We need both men and women to join our team. You must have your own vehicle.
*Hospice volunteers are not asked to take on a hospice assignment they may feel uncomfortable with. I work hard to make good matches with volunteers and hospice clients.
When the training is completed, if someone who has attended does not feel ready, they are not pressured to begin volunteer hospice care.
There is nothing mysterious about being a hospice volunteer. If you visit a sick friend, run an errand for a family member, have ever read to an ailing neighbor, helped bring in firewood, walked their dog, held their hand while they slept….. you can do this compassionate volunteer care.
Hospice volunteering is an extension of reaching out to those in our community who need just a little more support, companionship and respite for their care givers.
Volunteers may visit a hospice client in a private home, in a boarding home, a nursing home, the Maine state veterans home and the hospitals. Volunteers can decide where they may feel more comfortable and how many hours they want to give. Many volunteers visit someone once a week, others twice a week. Some make their visits on a week-end so a care giver can go to church.
Volunteers do NOT provide any nursing care and do NOT handle medications. The dedicated hospice nurses in our community provide these important services and we network with these nurses and the whole hospice team.
The training is interesting, eye opening and actually fun. If you join us you will come away with life affirming tools to help you be a compassionate hospice volunteer and you will be more prepared to give support to anyone dealing with a grave illness.
I’m reaching out to all communities such as Calais, Baileyville, Princeton, Grannd Lake Stream, Charlotte, Alexander, Cooper, Wesley, Perry, Robbinston, Eastport and further. If appropriate, we will provide gas cards to attend the training.