Vanderbilt Pre-med Student Wins Grant to Bring More Home Visits to Alive Patients
Published on August 14, 2024
Daniel Liu is a pre-med student at Vanderbilt who learned about the value of hospice care early in life when a friend’s father needed end-of-life care. Now, as a pre-med student at Vanderbilt, he volunteers at Alive and is helping his fellow students get involved. He recently won a grant from The Nichols Humanitarian Fund to pay for rides for students who want to volunteer in patient homes.
“I realized many students wanted to do more volunteering, but there was a limited number of spots offered through the VUMC volunteer program. Seeing this bottleneck, I applied to the grant to start a program that offers student volunteers free rides to and from home visit sites.”
So far, the grant has paid for travel for 9 volunteers, contributing more than 30 hours of support and companionship for patients!
We chatted with Daniel to find out what motivated him to get involved with Alive.
How did you learn about hospice care?
Why is volunteering for Alive important to you?
Growing up, I volunteered at many nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Hospice volunteering is a little unique compared to most other medical volunteering gigs – your sole purpose is to be a grounded human that can make connections with others regardless of gaps in age or life experiences. Your responsibilities as a volunteer are to be in touch with your own emotions and lived experiences in hopes that a conversation can occur.
I believe that, as a society, if we choose to value the lives of all members, it’s extremely important that we give those who are passing the opportunity for comfort, dignity, and companionship in their final months or weeks.
What do you do when you volunteer at Alive?
As a volunteer I do home visits and volunteer at assisted living facilities. Mainly, I talk to patients, do occasional light cleaning, and engage them in their hobbies. For example, I had a patient share with me tapes of their trip to India which started a long conversation about our mutual love for history and culture. In another instance, I helped a patient paint a portrait of their home on canvas.
What do you want others to know about this opportunity?
Patients really enjoy it when you can relate your own experiences in any way to the things that they love doing. If they like music, talk about your favorite Frank Sinatra songs (mine is Fly me to the moon); if they like cooking, talk about your family recipes, etc.
The biggest part of the job is connecting with others, and well-rounded, mature individuals with many interests are ideal volunteers. Sometimes volunteers with a specific interest or skill are needed.
When volunteering, try to talk in your regular tone/inflection and not as if you’re talking to a patient. Patients are often looking for a human connection/conversation and your natural way of speaking is likely the most comfortable.
Logistically, hospice is optimal for a student volunteer. Oftentimes, patients have more flexible schedules than a traditional hospital does, and you can coordinate directly with their families to find the times that work best for you.