When I first got an email about becoming a hospice volunteer, I remember reading it and setting it aside as possibly being an activity I\u2019d enjoy spending my time with. When I decided to go ahead and apply, I had really no idea what I\u2019d be getting myself into and what the experience would teach me. Despite not having been assigned a patient, the prompts I was given to answer every so often would make me think about how I\u2019d be interacting with patients who were going through the last of their time with us and their loved ones. It made me feel incredibly grateful that I would be given the opportunity to share these important moments with the patients and their families.
\nAlthough I wasn\u2019t able to meet with a patient regularly and utilize the skills I was taught to be a good listener and companion, I did find myself using those skills every day. From interacting with my friends and professors, to taking care of patients at my job as an EMT, each day I brought back the acronyms and lessons I learned every week about how to interact with those around us. The biggest value I learned this year as a result of this was how important being patient is. Not every experience is meant for you to fix a problem, but just to try to leave the person you\u2019re with in a better position than they were before you spent time with them. Each person has their own story and experiences and aspirations, and as a hospice volunteer our job is to be there as a support for the patients on their journey to their end goals. In doing so, it\u2019s very important to remain patient, as it\u2019s not our journey to make, but theirs. Each step on their path must be taken at the patient\u2019s pace.
\nThis idea is what I take with me every time I go to work. Whether I get a call for a transport to bring an elderly patient to a nursing home, or I get a call for someone who was injured, I remind myself each time that this experience is not primarily mine, but the patient\u2019s who I\u2019m caring for. In this sense, we act as ferrymen to bring the patient to their destination, wherever it may be, in the most comforting way possible, all while trying to help care for them and give them the tools they need to get where they want to be in life. Patience is key when working in the field of healthcare, as many of the people you meet are at important stepping stones in their lives, uncharted territory they have no experience in, and with the potential for any wrong decision to have lasting impacts on both them and those around them.
\nOne specific experience the values I learned from the hospice volunteer program really helped me in actually happened right at the start of the program. It was an ordinary day at work when my partner and I got a call to transport a patient who came in at a hospital for a mental health crisis. On our way to the receiving facility, the patient said something that has stuck with me ever since. He told me about his life and his family and why he reached out for help, and he said \u201cbeing patient isn\u2019t something you just have. Learning to be patient with people around you isn\u2019t just a characteristic or personality trait, it\u2019s an achievement you reach after you learn how to interact with others.\u201d As I remember his words each day, and the lessons I learned from the hospice volunteer program, I know that every experience will help me achieve patience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first got an email about becoming a hospice volunteer, I remember reading it and setting it aside as possibly being an activity I\u2019d enjoy spending my time with. When I decided to go ahead and apply, I had really no idea what I\u2019d be getting myself into and what the experience would teach … Continue reading “The Value of Patience”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"school":[10],"program_year":[45],"class_list":["post-1948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","school-villanova","program_year-45"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2016,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions\/2016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"program_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_year?post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}