October 17, 2006

Angie Brown - Grand Lake Hospice Volunteer Coordinator

Angie addressed the club about the Grand Lake Hospice Volunteer Program for which she is the recently appointed coordinator.  She is originally from the Huber Heights area and currently resides with her husband and 4 children in Minster.  She joined Joint Township Hospital in 2004 working in the Community Outreach department.  After some apprehension about switching jobs and assuming her new position, she reports that she is happy that she did and is looking forward to being a part of the kickoff of Hospice now that their certification has been approved.

She shared that the impetus for establishing another hospice in the area was so that the Grand Lake Health Systems could provide health care services from birth through death.  Without a hospice service at Grand Lake, patients needed to be referred to new healthcare providers at a crucial point in their lives and it proved to be very disruptive and stressful for patients and their families.

Angie shared that the experience of working in hospice care is often understood by many people and some shy away from volunteering as a result.  The program serves terminally ill patients so as to allow them to transition into death with dignity and respect.  This is not only helpful for the patient but for their family as well.  The program is required to staff with 5% of their work to be done on a volunteer basis. There is a wide range of services that volunteers can provide, some of which do not require that they are closely interfacing with patients or families if that is uncomfortable for them.  She did emphasize that those who do work directly are generally affected in a very positive way from the experience of helping others at such a time in their life and experience personal growth as a result.  Volunteer services include: administrative help, patient comfort care, public relations, family support and others.  Comfort care may include companionship, helping with outings, reading with the patient, playing cards or music and other forms of being with them as they need. 

Hospice is focused on education about end of life issues, to provide for patient comfort near and up to the end of life, to honor the patient's wishes and to help families adjust to their loss.  Typically patients enter the program when it has been determined by their physician that death is likely to occur within 6 months. Currently the program has just received its certification and it will be accepting its first 6 patients in the near future.  Angie hopes to increase her staff of volunteers to about 50 within the first year of operation. 

For more information on becoming a hospice volunteer, contact Angie Brown at 419-394-7434, ext 2808.

Hosting Rotarian: Anne Larger