Making A Difference in Your Community : Hospice Care Rewards Givers and Receivers

Edward Poindexter of Woodland Hills first met death in the form of shrapnel and bullets on the battlefields of Europe during World War II.

“You never get accustomed to it,” said Poindexter, who now helps terminally ill patients and their families face death as a volunteer with the Hospice of the Canyon in Calabasas.

“There was always that thought in your mind of fear. There could always be a round coming over with your name on it,” said Poindexter, remembering his experiences as a U.S. Army sergeant during the fighting in Italy.

“I have accepted a long time ago that all of us will meet this fate sooner or later,” added Poindexter, 73, who has been visiting terminally ill patients in their homes for two years.

But his most recent experience with death has been very different from his wartime experience.

Hospice patients may take months to die. It is during those months that some extraordinary things can happen between the volunteers and their patients and their families, said Patricia Nolan, director of volunteer services for the Hospice of the Canyon.

Family members may resolve old arguments and form enduring friendships with volunteers, she said.

For example, Nolan said, one volunteer became a close friend of a woman whose husband was dying, and even helped shop for a shirt and tie so he would have something in which to be buried.

The goal of hospice work is to allow terminally ill patients to die at home in familiar surroundings, rather than in a cold and impersonal hospital. And the work of the home-care volunteer is to give the patient’s family members a break from the constant care giving.

Often the volunteers go far beyond the expected, Nolan said.

“I swear to God, some of these people walk in the doors and they have wings on their backs,” said Nolan, who herself started as a hospice volunteer 16 years ago.

In her earlier experience, Nolan experienced an emotional burnout. As a result, when Nolan took over the volunteer program at Hospice of the Canyon, she set up an intensive 10-week training course to help prepare the volunteers to work with terminally ill patients. The hospice also runs support groups to help volunteers cope with the pressures.

“I tell them all, they may have wondered why they are here; what’s the meaning of life,” said Nolan, explaining the philosophy she gives to volunteers. “I always tell them that despite everything else, maybe the only reason you were put on this earth is to touch one person’s life and they may meet them here.”

Sally Ahearn of Woodland Hills, a hospice volunteer for two years, said she has gotten a lot more from the patients than she has given.

“They’re fantastic teachers,” said Ahearn, a mother of eight who sometimes takes children with her on the visits. “I think as they deal with a terminal illness, they show you a side of humanity you never get to see.”

After a patient has died, Ahearn goes through a period of mourning, and has to take a few weeks off from the volunteer work to recover. One patient who faced death with such a zest for life meant a lot to her.

“She told me that it was a real gift to her that she was able to get to know me,” Ahearn said. “I thought it was a really incredible thing to say because she was such a gift to me.”

The woman died with her family around her, but only after waiting for Ahearn to get there so they could say goodby.

The Hospice of the Canyon is looking for volunteers to become community service speakers, help in the hospice office and work at its gift shop. Hours are flexible. Applications from patient care volunteers are being accepted for training classes starting in September. For more information call Nolan at 818-591-1459.

The American Language Preparedness School at the Salvation Army in Burbank needs tutors to help adult students learn to speak, read and write in English. To volunteer call the Salvation Army at 818-845-7215 and ask for Kim Rhodes or Krystyna Hackett. A training meeting is scheduled for June 30. The summer tutoring session begins July 5.