Themes
- Community volunteers
- Volunteer befrienders
Background
The Joseph Weld & Trimar Hospice & Cancercare Dorset Trust were three separate organisations which merged in November 2004 to become one organisation. The Joseph Weld hospice was opened in 1994, the West Dorset Macmillan Service opened in 1979 and changed its name to Cancercare Dorset in 1999, and Trimar Hospice opened in 1996. The new organisation now offers in-patient services, day care and a community service, although the befriending service has existed for 20 years to support the community nurses in the area.
Fundraising
Forty-two percent of the funding comes from the NHS, but the remainder is fundraised through the many charity shops, legacies and fund bequests. The fundraising department has 2 fundraisers, but volunteers and friends of the hospice fundraise in the community all year round. Events range from small to large events, including the annual fete which can raise over £25,000. Throughout the Dorset region Friends of the Joseph Weld & Trimar Hospice and CancerCare Dorset also run their own organisations which raise funds for the hospice.
The volunteers
There are currently 240 patient care volunteers across Dorset, many of whom are female and over 60 years old, although a handful of volunteers are over 80 years old. Younger volunteers are also becoming interested in working with the organisation. Volunteer are engaged in a variety of roles dealing with patient care. Roles include attending social groups and befriending patients, giving carers a much-needed break, shopping for patients, collecting prescriptions, reading to bed-bound patients, patient transportation to medical appointments and treatments. Volunteers have no medical input. Community specialist palliative care nurses carry out all medical interventions including symptom control and pain relief, but they sometimes depend a great deal on the volunteers to help the patient in their ‘cancer journey’ as they have more time available to spend talking to patients. Day care is for patients who do require medical input but volunteers help at these sessions. There are also trained and qualified volunteer complementary therapists who go out to patients’ homes to do aromatherapy massage, reflexology etc.
Training
Volunteers attend a training course offered over two days which covers how the organisation works, family support, complementary therapy, how to deal with terminally ill patients, the boundaries involved, and how to liaise with palliative care nurses if problems arise.
Patient care training is obligatory for volunteers but they also have access to other courses, for example classes run by specialist nurses on topics such as palliative care, effects of chemotherapy etc. There are also courses in driving improvement. As well as training, the Volunteer Services Manager also holds two support meetings a year to update volunteers and get feedback from them.
There is a strong support environment in the organisation. Volunteers can talk to the Volunteer Services Manager at any time, in particular if they have problems when visiting a patient but at any time when things can get too much.
Recruitment
Volunteers are mainly recruited by word-of-mouth, although the Volunteer Services Manager also occasionally writes articles for local magazines and newspapers. The hospice has a high profile in the community so many people offer to volunteer as they know of someone who has been a patient, or they simply want to make a difference to someone’s life. If someone has been bereaved for less than two years, the Volunteer Services Manager would direct them to volunteer in another field, for example fundraising, as volunteering in a palliative care environment may be too emotionally demanding.
Recognition
Volunteers are treated in the same way as paid staff and they take part in annual get-togethers such as Christmas parties or summer barbecues. After a certain number of years volunteering (10,15, and 20 years) they also receive a certificate of recognition for their services. They are greatly appreciated by the community nurses who due to increasing caseloads cannot spend a lot of time with patients. The palliative care nurses often feel that the emotional well-being of patients is enhanced as a direct result of having a ‘befriender’.
Befriending
The Volunteer Services Manager is currently setting up a group which will train volunteers to befriend people who are dying alone. The group was initiated by a local GP and matrons of the community hospitals who identified a need. Nurses no longer always have time to sit with terminally ill patients which is distressing particularly if they have no family or friends. Volunteers will receive more intensive training for this befriending role, including how to respond in such a situation, identify physical changes in patients, liaising with the project coordinator to get the correct information from nurses and GPs as well as having support themselves during the process. One training course has already taken place and the second will take place in November 2005.
The organisation has a good reputation for its volunteers being well trained, and young people are volunteering to gain useful experience for college courses. Others who have gone through the training process have often gone on to do further bereavement training or counselling courses as a result of their enjoyment of volunteering.
For further information, please contact:
Joanna Higgs
Volunteer Services & IT Manager
Joseph Weld & Trimar Hospice & Cancercare Dorset
Tel: 01305 756931
Email: Joanna.higgs@weld-hospice.org.uk
