Neighbor helping neighbor is focus of hospice

“My hospice friends gave me a gift. They let me into their lives, their homes and most of all into their hearts,” says Kathleen Stanwood. “Hospice volunteering is an incredible personal experience.” Stanwood is a volunteer with Down East Hospice Volunteers (DEHV), a 41-year old organization devoted to assisting those in their end-of-life journey. The organization is looking for more people to help others.
  Serving those living in the Downeast areas of Jonesboro to Steuben, Stanwood has been with DEHV for over 17 years. “A neighbor and friend who was also a volunteer encouraged me to take the training,” says Stanwood. “She said hospice is about life enriching life. It is all that.”
  DEHV provides compassionate care, companionship, emotional support, bereavement support and much more for terminally ill patients, their families and caregivers. DEHV Board President and volunteer Paul Strickland notes that the organization also provides community education and training to residents of Washington County on issues pertaining to death and dying. “This organization’s philosophy is that the end of life deserves as much beauty, care and respect as the beginning,” says Strickland.
  “It’s all about community members helping their neighbors and friends in a confidential and compassionate way,” says Executive Director Barbara Barnett. “This all volunteer organization has been centered around neighbor helping neighbor with dignity and respect since 1981.” Barnett says that volunteers provide hours of respite time for caregivers by running errands, help coordinate outside resources and provide emotional and spiritual support for all clients.
  Serving clients from Robbinston to Calais, Arlene Wren has been involved with DEHV since 2013 and believes she is giving back to the community in which one lives. “Prior to my becoming a hospice volunteer, my father was a hospice client when he was going through his end of life journey,” says Wren. “At first, he was very concerned about accepting this hospice benefit, but I encouraged him to participate in the program and I was able to experience first hand the comfort, support and guidance they are able to provide, not only to the client, but to the family members as well. Going through this journey with my dad and other close friends made me realize that being a hospice volunteer is something that I could and wanted to do.”
  DEHV services are provided at no cost to the client or their family and require no medical referral. The length of service has no time restrictions. “Anyone can become a hospice volunteer,” says Barnett. “You do not need a medical referral to have a hospice volunteer. The clients themselves can call us up and say, ‘Barbara, I’d like to meet a volunteer and see if you have a good match for me.’”
  Stanwood and Wren both agree that the satisfaction of giving to others is returned ten fold to each of them in some very personal ways. “This has been an incredible personal experience,” says Stanwood. “The whole idea of hospice is to help people live as fully as possible for whatever time is left. All of us are at some point in transition between living and dying. If I can in some small way make this transition easier for the individual and their families it is all worth it. Being involved enriches my life as well.”
  “Get involved!” says Wren. “The training is comprehensive and covers all areas and concerns. Matching a client with a volunteer is done thoughtfully, and you are never in it alone. There are many resources available to you to answer any additional questions you may have as you go through the process. It has been so rewarding to me to be able to provide support, comfort and a listening ear or just holding someone’s hand.”
  Barnett says the organization will be conducting another volunteer training program in June. “We need both men and women,” she says. Applications can be obtained from the website at www.downeasthospicevolunteers.org or by calling 454 7521 ext. 126 or emailing the office at downeasthospice@yahoo.com.