When I first applied to be a hospice volunteer, I didn’t think much about it other than that I wanted to volunteer in a hospital setting and that I had volunteered with the elderly population before. I didn’t realize how much I would actually end up learning over the course of the year. I learned so much about the hospice system, how to deal with death, and interact with people much different from me. Although I wasn’t able to go into the hospital to volunteer, the meetings in the church with the rest of the volunteers were incredibly important in my development as a pre-med student and as a future doctor.
During one of our first meetings, we discussed a documentary that involved dealing with death, including several patients and their families coping with the high probability of passing away in the near future. It put into perspective how difficult the medical field is and how necessary it is to be aware that a doctor can’t know everything and that sometimes the hardest experience is not being able to solve a problem and help the patient. The documentary showed how difficult it is for a doctor to have to deal with the fact that they can do nothing for their patient outside providing support and hopefully increasing longevity to a certain point. It shows an important lesson of how imperative it is for healthcare professionals to balance accepting death as an inevitable part of life and trying their hardest to help the patient live. I was able to learn much about the issues that many healthcare professionals have to face, sometimes daily, and this has helped me discover the kind of doctor I want to become.
The sessions at the church were also incredibly important for me, because coming together with different kinds of people who are all interested in helping other people was incredibly comforting to me. It is empowering to see other people discuss how they connect with the hospice system and help others. I received a book through these meetings, and reading it truly impacted the way that I observe the world around me and the way that I want to interact with patients in the future. I think if I were to get a chance to do it again, I would try to get time to go and volunteer in the hospitals and meet patients as often as I can, because at the end of the day, I’m striving to help others.
I think it is necessary for programs like hospice to exist because it provides students like me a chance to experience health care at its most difficult level. When all we can do as healthcare providers is support, it seems natural to feel like we have failed. However, systems like hospice show us that often being a support system is the most important quality that someone in healthcare should have. We have to look at a patient as a human being—not a problem to solve. Overall, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the hospice volunteer group, and I would do it all over again if I could.