NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK

Hospice Volunteers are people just like you! Hospice volunteers come from all walks of life, age, ethnicity, faith, gender, sexual orientation, and professional backgrounds. Volunteers unselfishly give their time and talent to help other people help themselves. A volunteer is someone who believes that people can make a difference and is willing to demonstrate it.

Hospice volunteers are highly trained people who support the vast majority of the services hospice societies provide. The 2019 survey conducted by BCCPC found that over 3,500 volunteers were engaged with BC’s hospice organizations annually, in comparison to approximately 350 full-time employees. They were found in rural, remote, urban, and suburban communities and provide support to over 10,000 people monthly with palliative support, vigil support, spiritual support, complementary therapies, assistance with activities of daily living, symptom management, day programming, grief support, caregiver support, and respite programming. (Hospice Care in British Columbia: The Path Forward Report).

With over 209,470 of volunteer hours provided in 2019 from hospice volunteers, a value-added of approximately $4.2 million was saved in the delivery of care to our BC health care system. Not to mention the added value of $40 million that hospices along with their volunteers were able to also fundraise that same year to support their communities.

Empathy describes Hospice Volunteers; seeing, listening, understanding, and caring for their communities will remain their primary goal.