School: Haverford

Over the past four months, my time with my patient has defined my experience as a hospice volunteer. While our relationship has not been particularly deep in the traditional sense, my presence in her life, while it is fleeting in her memory, has given me an appreciation for the subtleties of patient care. My patient … Continue reading “The Value of Being There”

After only a few visits to “Millie”, it became clear that we had much in common. We both appreciated summers on the Jersey Shore, we both adored looking at photographs of dogs, and we both wanted to spend as much time outside as possible. On a deeper level, we both shared the tendency to choose … Continue reading “The Secret of a Smile”

When I started my hospice volunteering experience, I worried about being bothersome to my patients and not having the right personality to provide comfort. I wanted to be a helpful part of their care team, but I doubted whether I could guide conversations or recognize when a patient preferred to talk, listen, or sit in … Continue reading “The Power of Presence in Patient Care”

As I walked into the senior living home for the first time, I felt a mix of excitement and sorrow. I was thrilled to have a patient to interact with–to provide support to–which was my role as a hospice volunteer. But when I saw my patient, my excitement faded — I saw her bed-ridden and … Continue reading “A Journey With My Patient”

My experience with the Athena Institute Pre-Med Hospice Volunteer Program has been overwhelmingly positive. I have been blessed with wonderful patients to work with as well as supportive and inspiring mentors to learn from. Upon assuming this position, I was, admittedly, very nervous. I had no prior experience with hospice care and no idea what … Continue reading “An Inimitable Experience”

I wasn’t assigned a patient during the program, but I did still learn a lot by talking with the volunteer manager and by engaging with the materials sent out each week. Something meaningful that happened to me is that while progressing through the program, I find myself more comfortable with the idea of mortality and … Continue reading “My relationship with mortality”

My time as a hospice volunteer has been a transformative, impactful and overall fulfilling experience. During the school year I was assigned to two patients: the first being “Emma” and the latter “Janeen”, both of which provided me drastically different experiences. Emma was chatty, sarcastic, and incredibly hilarious. I recall being nervous before my first … Continue reading “Hospice Volunteering: Meeting Patients Where They’re At”

Seeing Beyond the Cure One of the main questions I had when starting out in the Athena Hospice program was do I have what it takes to make a good hospice volunteer? I started my visits and set out to figure out which characteristics would best equip someone to be a great hospice volunteer. I … Continue reading “Seeing Beyond the Cure”

As many of the first prompts noted, death was never an aspect that I had considered when I decided to be a pre-med student freshman year of college. When the opportunity came to become a volunteer in a hospice, I was reluctant to apply: What if a patient brought up death during a visit? How … Continue reading “Centering the Patient: Making a Difference as a Hospice Volunteer”

When I first signed up to volunteer with this program, I didn’t know what to fully expect as the only experience I had had with death and end of life care were my own grandparents and great-grandma. Even though my grandfather had received palliative care, I didn’t know the full scope of what caring for … Continue reading “Realizing what’s truly important in life”