A phone call. A foot rub. The gift of a fresh peach.
Dana Johnson of Four Oaks knows this first hand. She volunteers several hours a week with Johnston Home Care and Hospice. And it’s a privilege, she says, to sit with patients when their spouses or caregivers need a break.
When the SECU Hospice House opens in late April, the hospice agency will need more volunteers like Johnson to visit with patients and help run the 18-bed center, which is located next to the National Guard Armory on Hospital Road in Smithfield.
Laura Hurt, the hospice volunteer coordinator, says she would like to add about 50 volunteers to an existing group of 20. She envisions two volunteers working three- to four-hour shifts at the house during the day and early evenings.
Their duties would include answering the phone, greeting guests, visiting patients, stocking a snack room. They may also assemble information packets, water plants and make bereavement calls to families.
Hurt says young people between the ages of 15 and 18 are also eligible to volunteer. She wants to put into place a “tuck-in” program where the teens check-in on patients before they turn in for the night.
Johnson, who has been a volunteer for three years, treasures the time she spends with patients. She once helped a patient wrap Christmas presents. For another, she played Elvis albums and, together, they reminisced about the music of the day.
“It’s a compliment that they allow you to spend this very private time with them,” she says. “As a volunteer, you get more out of it than you give.”
A cancer survivor, Johnson knows what it’s like to feel isolated when facing illness. Small gestures, such as picking a rose for a patient or sending a card, light up their faces, she says.
“Hospice is a way that people can pass it on,” she adds. “I believe it’s an extension of what God wants us to do--to love our neighbor.”
For more information about becoming a hospice volunteer, please call Laura Hurt at 938-7560.
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