Palliative and hospice care volunteers, Geelong

It’s impossible to downplay the important role that palliative care volunteers play in the lives of people with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

Volunteers are a key part of the multi-disciplinary teams that provide palliative care across Victoria’s Barwon South Western Region and they make a huge difference – providing friendship, support and respite at a time of great need for the patient and those around them.

Talk to palliative care volunteers and they’ll use words such as “rewarding” and “privilege” to describe their work. And that’s exactly what it is. To be able to help people as they face one of the most challenging periods of their life can also enrich your own life.

Through the help of trained volunteers, people with terminal illnesses can often remain in their own homes, receiving care in familiar surroundings and close to family and friends, right to the end. That can mean so much when it comes to quality of life and making every day count.

So don’t hold back. If you are interested in palliative care and hospice care volunteering, then take that first step. Contact your nearest health service provider in Barwon South Western Region Palliative Care Consortium, ask if you can become a volunteer and let them train you to become a valuable member of their support network.

Palliative care volunteers:

• Are there to offer clients and their carers practical support and the hand of friendship. A volunteer can provide support in a range of environments including the patient’s home or hospitals. Their roles are varied and can include providing friendship, giving carers a break, doing the shopping and driving a client to an appointment.
• Don’t have to have any previous experience in palliative care. If you are armed with a desire to help others in a critical stage of their life and are willing to learn, then this might be the volunteer opportunity for you. It’s rich in emotion and reward and gives you a ringside seat when it comes to the power of love, courage and people’s quest for a better quality of life amid huge challenges.
• Should be able to communicate well with others and work well as part of a team. These attributes, coupled with a positive approach, are highly valuable when it comes to palliative care volunteering.
• Undergo training to prepare them for a role in palliative care.
• Start their journey by contacting volunteer co-ordinators at a health service.

Becoming a palliative care volunteer is a great way to make a real difference in your community. It can have a positive impact not only on the lives of the people you help, but on your own as well.

Contact the palliative care service closest to you if you want more information about becoming a volunteer. Palliative Care Victoria and Volunteering Victoria can also provide prospective volunteers with information.