They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s at least how many words describe hospice!
What does hospice mean to you? Share it with the world! As part of National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, supporters from across the nation are taking part in a special video project. It’s designed to help raise awareness about and increase access to hospice care. Above are the photos Alive Hospice submitted. We’re excited about taking part in this project, and we hope you will, too!
Will you join in with us? All you have to do is have someone take a photo of yourself holding up a sign with a word you think best describes hospice and submit it via e-mail. Deadline: November 24, Midnight Pacific Standard Time.
What being Alive Hospice’s director of volunteer services means to me: Life-changing. How can I not love my position?
I get to meet the best of the best. Everyday citizens like all of us, giving of their most precious commodity: time. In hospice, everyone knows how important time is. Our Alive Hospice volunteers enthusiastically come in week after week and make calls; visit patients; run errands; and play bingo so the patients can have a little fun. They wash/style hair; give massages to our patients and families; load up their wonderful pets and visit; sew afghans, pillows, tissue holders, and prayer shawls; sit with those who have no family; work in offices… the list goes on and on.
These are everyday people like each of us, working or retired, looking for meaningful volunteer service so they can make a difference in this world. They give back to us for the blessings in their lives.
Next time you see a volunteer in your life’s travels, remember to thank them. Even just a small smile will let them know you appreciate them. Where would this world be without these unselfish people? These wonderful, Alive Hospice volunteers are doing what we all say we will do: give our time to make a difference to those around us. They take their responsibilities very seriously. They are here to help in any way they can. I feel honored and privileged to walk alongside them on their journey as volunteers.
You can be a part of Alive Hospice as a volunteer, too. We invite you to talk with us about volunteer opportunities and how you’d like to serve. Give us a call at 615-327-1085 or visit the Volunteer section of the Alive Hospice website.
Deb Gerlica is Alive Hospice’s director of volunteer services.
A dog or cat might be the last thing a person would expect to see in the hospice setting, but Alive Hospice patients are visited by animals every week!
As Channel 2’s Jamey Tucker showed, it’s all part of providing comfort for patients and families during a difficult time. And oh, what a difference it makes!
April is the month in which we have the privilege of honoring our trusted, dedicated volunteers. These amazing individuals work all year long to ensure that our patients and families are loved and comforted in a variety of ways. Some of them answer the phones and get people connected; others stuff envelopes with valuable information about what to expect in the grieving process; still others bring their beloved cats, dogs, and even ponies to visit those in our Residence or inpatient facilities.
We have people who are gifted in playing an instrument and/or singing who share that wonderful talent with our patients and families. Others do hair and nails or provide a massage or healing touch. I certainly would be remiss not to mention all the incredible volunteers who sit with patients for numerous hours just to be present so they know that they are loved. These volunteers might provide relief for the family who need a much deserved break or just be there to read or pray with patients, fix a light meal, write a letter — whatever the need may be.
Almost any talent can be shared with those whom we are privileged to serve. Most importantly, EVERY volunteer shares their loving spirit.
We have seen a very unique reaction to the difficulties with our economy over the past year: more people wanting to volunteer! Our statistics are staggering when we measure the impact of this service. In 2009, our 269 volunteers gave more than 15,000 hours of service.
So let this blog be a huge salute to the spirit of volunteerism and to our Alive Hospice volunteers in particular. Thank you! We would not be the premier program that we are without you!!!
Alive Hospice music therapy volunteer
Matt Coffman.
When I moved back to Nashville two and a half years ago, I immediately began looking around for a good place to volunteer. I’m a guitarist, guitar teacher, and singer-songwriter, and I was specifically looking for somewhere that could use my musical skill to bring smiles to folks in need.
Alive is an incredible organization staffed by some of the most caring and big-hearted human beings I’ve ever met. When I first got started volunteering doing musical therapy at Alive in May 2008, I had never played for patients in hospice. The volunteer coordinators at Alive helped usher me right into the flow of musical therapy, and I was lucky enough to get to follow some more experienced musical volunteers as I figured out the many ins and outs of music therapy at Alive.
On a typical morning when I’m volunteering, I head into Alive Hospice Residence Nashville and chat with Jane at the front desk for a bit as a sort of warm-up for the therapeutic work ahead. Then, I tune my guitar and begin my walk around the Residence. I stop into patients’ rooms and say good morning, and if they feel like some music, then I do my best to play something they might like.
The most often requested repertoire at Alive consists of gospel tunes, folk standards, instrumental pieces, and the occasional surprise pop hit. If I don’t know a song, I’ll try to learn it for the next time I’m at Alive.
I’ve met some extraordinary people through volunteering at Alive. And I’ve come to appreciate the power of the right song played in the right way at the right moment. If I’ve helped someone smile a bit wider or feel like someone’s caring right there with them, then my work has been a success.
Matt Coffman is an Alive Hospice volunteer who plays in the Brazilian/South American and classical guitar styles. Listen to a sampling of his music here.
We have superlative volunteers who assist in many aspects of our care at Alive Hospice. The volunteers who work with us at Alive Hospice Residence Nashville are as varied as the types and colors of plants and flowers in our courtyard and surrounding our facility.
A group of 10 ladies created two quilts
(including the one shown above) for Alive
Hospice patients. Each quilt took around
100 hours from start to finish.
One group of volunteers used their creative (and labor-intensive) talents to produce for us two unique quilts that have, in this past year, become part of a favorite and revered tradition. Several of these lady-volunteers met with members of our staff at the Residence to brainstorm ideas for colors, shapes and sizes. Literally hundreds of hours and thousands of stitches later, we were gifted with such exquisitely beautiful quilts that family members, visitors, and staff alike admire with awe each time one is used.
Our staff were able to sign each quilt in areas specifically prepared for our signatures. The significance of our signatures lies in what the quilts were thoughtfully prepared for and how we respectfully make use of them.
Whenever one of our patients is taken from our facility after his or her death, we drape each one with a quilt that carries each staff member’s name. In a symbolic way, all of us who have shared in caring for this patient are able to take part in one final goodbye. Just as the attending staff present at the actual time of death are able to escort that person from the building embraced in one of our quilts, it is as if each of us is part of the respectful and loving farewell. I believe that our use of these lovely quilts has brought a level of reverence to our tradition of releasing our patients that has richly enhanced our honoring of them and their loved ones.
My hope is that our volunteers (who offered their talents and dedicated so much of their time and energy to make our quilts into the wonderful realities that we experience on a daily basis) will find genuine satisfaction in knowing how deeply their works of art are appreciated by so many on an ongoing basis.
Volunteer Nan Shinn with Mr. Morgan Davis and Baldwin the cat on a Tuesday visit
at Alive Hospice Residence Nashville.
Mr. Morgan Davis reached out his hand to stroke the furry, four-legged visitor that had come to see him.
“Hi, kitty,” he said as he patted the placid creature, a cat named Baldwin.
A short-haired black cat known for his gentle bedside manner, Baldwin is one of several pet therapy animals that visits patients and families at Alive Hospice Residence Nashville. He has been making weekly rounds there with volunteer Nan Shinn for the last six years. It’s hard to count just how many people they have called on in that time, but all told, they’ve logged more than 2,000 hours together.
It warms the heart to see the reactions Nan and Baldwin get when they drop by. Staff members grin at the sight of the golden-eyed critter, and they can’t help reaching out to pet him. Inside patients’ rooms, the reactions he gets are even sweeter.
“Come in, come in, come in!” many have said. “I didn’t know there were cats here!”
Click here to read the rest of the story in the Fall 2009 edition of Alive Hospice’s Connection newsletter. (The story is on page 5.)
ONLINE EXTRA:How did Baldwin get his name?
From Nan Shinn: “My husband found him on a Baldwin trail in Florida. They turned old railroad lines into bike and walking trails. My husband was 6 miles out on this Baldwin trail. He said, ‘I saw up ahead a black blob.’ As he got closer, (a cat’s) little head popped up and he started to run after him. When he turned around and saw this kitten, what could he do? He wasn’t even a pound. He was very sick.
“He gets back to the car and calls me, and I hear, ‘Mew, mew, mew!’ I go, ‘Oh, no!’ He goes, ‘Oh, yes!’
“We just thought he was this outgoing and great kitten. He’s doing great. He’s healthy. He’s 8 years old. He’s a good guy.”
What an inspiration it was to meet the beautiful young ladies from the Girl Scouts who literally worked their fingers to the bone producing quilts made with lovely fabrics and love in every stitch. We sometimes hear about the foibles of our youngsters and worry about our future; let me just say that, from my perspective, there is not a thing to worry about.
These young ladies demonstrated firsthand a true caring for their fellow man. They do not know a single person who will benefit from the hours of toil they put into their quilts but they know that someone will be comforted by them. How amazing! The young ladies I met were teenagers. They could have been doing a number of things with their time to benefit themselves but they chose instead to do something to benefit others. I am humbled and inspired by their love of humanity.
These are qualities that our staff bring to the work they do each and every day. I often hear from my colleagues, “I don’t know how you can do what you do.” I don’t know how I couldn’t. The privilege of seeing human beings at their best each and every day is one I do not take for granted. I am filled with gratitude to the Girl Scouts organization for instilling these values in those whom they serve. I saw future hospice workers in those quilters!
So to the Girl Scouts organization and to Phyllis Hildreth with Falcon Feather Fibers, who provided the venue for the quilters (and the inspiration to community service), our future patients and families thank you — not only for the quilts but for the values you portray. I hope to see you young ladies as hospice workers in about another decade.
A dog or cat might be the last thing a person would expect to see in the hospice setting, but Alive Hospice patients are visited by animals every week! 
ONLINE EXTRA:
