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| Dorothy Phillips: A Gift of Caring June 2007
Dorothy Phillips knows the difference that caring can make. An office administrative specialist in MITRE's Facilities and Administration department, Phillips spends three nights a week providing support to terminally ill people and their families as a hospice volunteer. Since 2001, Phillips has volunteered with Capital Hospice, a nonprofit organization that assists people who are dying and their loved ones with a full range of medical, emotional, spiritual, and social needs. One of the oldest and largest hospice programs in the U.S., Capital Hospice served 4,500 patients and their families last year, regardless of their ability to pay. Hospice provides services to people in their homes, in extended care facilities, and in inpatient facilities. Phillips does her volunteer work exclusively at Heritage Hall Nursing Home in Leesburg, Va. "I go to the nursing home and visit with patients because hospice feels I have a better contact with the elderly people," she explains. "They feel I can get through to these patients when other people can't." During each trip to Heritage Hall, Phillips makes individual visits to two hospice patients. She may read to them, massage their legs, or wheel them to nursing home activities. Mostly her visits are just about providing hospice patients with companionship and someone to talk to. "When you first go in to see a patient, it sometimes takes two or three visits before they feel comfortable with you," she says. "I do find that the older people can relate to you more if you talk about their past, when they were growing up, their families, and that type of thing." A Rewarding Experience Phillips spends at least nine hours a week volunteering, visiting each patient for an hour and a half on weekday evenings. Occasionally she makes a weekend visit as well. "One of the women I visit has a hard time with Saturdays, so if I'm free on a weekend, I'll go in for two or three hours," she says. "We might just watch TV together or work on a Sudoku puzzle. Whatever she feels like doing." Phillips was drawn to hospice by her own experience caring for terminally ill members of her immediate family. "Through family experiences, I felt I'd like to get in with hospice," she says. "I had been thinking about doing some type of social services volunteering, and hospice seemed to be a place that I would really be able to help." Capital Hospice provides comprehensive services that include sophisticated symptom relief, around-the-clock telephone access to a registered nurse, respite care for overtaxed caregivers, help in securing medical equipment, and information about caring for a loved one at home. It also operates a center that provides bereavement counseling to adults and children in a variety of settings, including in their homes and at a hospice-operated camp. The work can be difficult, but for Phillips, the rewards outweigh the pain. "It's hard to see people suffering, but it's also nice to see the smile on their faces when you come in and realize how much they enjoy having you there with them," she says. "I do get very attached to them, and it's hard to see them go. It helps to get assigned to another patient." Hospice volunteers like Phillips must complete a four-week training session before they are assigned to visit a patient. Because volunteers may see patients more often than the hospice nurses and social workers, they provide a vital link between patients and hospice. For example, volunteers file reports on each of their visits that help keep hospice staff abreast of a patient's evolving needs. "I'm also able to contact my clients' children if I feel like there is something that they should know," says Phillips. "Hospice really does involve the whole family." Due to the intensity of working with terminally ill patients and their families, this type of volunteering is not the right fit for everyone. Capital Hospice does offer other volunteer opportunities, including assisting with office administration duties, landscaping, its annual fundraising event, and the Capital Hospice Thrift Shop in Falls Church, Va. Phillips adds, "Hospice even has volunteers who just take people to their doctor appointments or pick up their prescriptions. There are so many different ways to help."
Page last updated: June 1, 2007 | Top of page |
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