Home Care & Hospice Association of NJ hosts conference for volunteers

More than 180 hospice volunteers gathered at the Rutgers Piscataway campus on July 15 for a full day of classes on topics from bereavement to pet therapy to Hindu and Buddhist approaches to the end of life.

The goal? To help them and their 3,000 volunteer counterparts statewide care for the 40,000 terminally ill New Jerseyans and their families who receive hospice services each year, according to a news release.

“Our association is the only one in the country that does a statewide conference for hospice volunteers and our hospice members feel it’s a valuable part of training and retaining volunteers,” said Chrissy Buteas, president and CEO of the Home Care & Hospice Association of NJ, which sponsors the conference each summer.

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“Obviously, the volunteers find it valuable as well,” Buteas said in the news release. “They’re voluntarily sitting in classrooms for seven hours on a summer Saturday, just learning how they can help their most vulnerable neighbors.”

Hospice is provided wherever the patient lives — in private homes, nursing homes, assisted livings, hospice houses, hospitals and elsewhere. Hospice volunteers support caregiving in many ways, Buteas said, including running errands for families, doing simple chores around the house, providing companionship for patients and giving families a break from their caregiving. Some volunteers assist in the hospice office as well, particularly with clerical matters and patient records.

“The volunteer in hospice is so important,” Buteas said, “that hospice is the only Medicare benefit which requires use of volunteers. To remain certified by Medicare, our hospices must provide patient-related volunteer services in an amount equal to five percent of the total staff hours spent in bedside delivery of care.”

Six hospices helped sponsor the event: Embracing HospiceCare (platinum sponsor); VNA Health Group (crystal luncheon sponsor); and bronze sponsors Ascend Hospice, Atlantic Home Care and Hospice, Grace Healthcare and Holy Redeemer Hospice.

Topics covered in the workshops included “Dementia: What It Is and What It Is Not,” “Good Grief,” “Heartfulness Meditation,” “Laughter in the Hospice Setting – Seriously,” “Memoir Writing,” “Music Therapy as a Healing Modality,” “Tell Me Your Story – the Importance of Narrative Work in Hospice Care,” “End of Life from Buddhist and Hindu Perspectives,” “Guilt: The Gift That Keeps on Giving,” “How Do Therapy Dogs Help in Hospice Care?,” “Sun in the Heart: New Pages from a Hospice Volunteer’s Notebook,” “Volunteering at the 11th Hour,” “Working with the Minimally Responsive or Non-Communicative Patient,” “Creating Moments of Joy in Moderate and Late Stage Alzheimer’s Disease,” “Poetry & the Practice of Listening” and “Staying Whole in the Midst of Brokenness.”

Hospices provide training programs for those interested in volunteering. Prospective volunteers must undergo background checks to assure patient and family safety. For information on volunteering for hospice, go to http://www.homecarenj.org/hospice-by-county.

The Home Care & Hospice Association of NJ represents New Jersey’s Medicare certified home health agencies, hospices and health care service firms.