The patient that stuck with me the most during my time volunteering in hospice was actually the very first one I visited. I will call her “Jane” as a pseudonym. “Jane” was the oldest person at the facility, but you honestly would not have guessed that just by talking to her. She was still walking around and talking as if she were the youngest person there. The first time I met her, I remember being amazed by how much life she must have experienced and how much wisdom she must have gained over the years. It was very clear that “Jane” was loved by the people around her. Her family visited her often, and other residents and staff members clearly cared about her as well. When we talked, she shared a lot about her life and the people who were important to her. One of the most important things she said to me was that her relationships with the people she loved were the most important things in her life. Everything else always came second to that. Hearing her say that made me think about my own life and the people who mean the most to me. It reminded me that it is really important to slow down and spend time with the people you care about.
My experience with “Jane” also made me realize how lonely some patients can feel. Even when they are surrounded by people who care about them, there are still moments where they just want someone to sit with them and listen. Sometimes when I visited “Jane,” we did not even talk about anything particularly important. We would just sit and have normal conversations about her day or stories from her past. However, I could tell that having someone there to listen meant a lot to her. That experience made me realize that just being a compassionate friend for someone can matter just as much as caring for their physical health.
Through my hospice experience, I have noticed a real change in myself. In my personal life, I have become someone who tries to slow down more and appreciate where I am in life and the people who are part of it. It has also changed how I think about patient care. Before volunteering, I mostly thought about healthcare as finding the right medicine or performing the right procedure to fix a problem. While that is obviously an important part of medicine, I now see that patient care is much more than that. Patients are people with their own stories, families, and struggles. They are not just someone you treat and move on from. Because of this experience, I know that when I become a physician, I want to be more than just someone who treats symptoms. I want to be someone who truly cares about my patients and takes the time to understand them as people. My hospice experience taught me that you can make a huge difference by simply being there and showing that they are seen and valued.