When I first applied to become a hospice volunteer it was because of my Grandma. She became a hospice patient this summer at 97 years old. I ended up spending about a month with her just to keep her company. I was really glad that I did for three reasons. The first reason was that I learned so much about her, things I had never known. She has lived through the great depression, World War 2, etc. thus, she has so much knowledge to share. The second was that I could help her with day to day logistics. The third reason was that I was able to provide her with support and company when she needed it most. I applied for this hospice volunteer program so that I could provide companionship and company to others in need.<\/p>\n
My first patient was a really nice woman but she was often sleeping and very tired. Thus, we did not spend much time talking. Sometimes I would visit and she would tell me that she just wanted to rest today, so I would leave. Other times, she would let me stay even if she was dozing off. Though I was providing a different sort of companionship I hoped that even just my presence while she was sleeping would be enough to let her know that she is not alone. I also got to meet some of her family members while she was sleeping one time. That was a nice experience for me because I got to see that even her distant relatives were there to support her which only goes to show how much of an impact she had on her loved ones.<\/p>\n
When I found out she had passed on I was coming back from a school break. I couldn\u2019t help but feel like I had not done enough. I spent time with her but I never got to establish a deep connection in the way I had hoped. I soon realized after thinking about it that I was letting my expectations prevent me from seeing how wonderful my experience really was. Although the relationship was different than what I had anticipated, it was still meaningful. Hopefully my presence and small talk brought her some sort of comfort. That was what I aimed to do, I just wanted to help someone in whatever way they needed it. Perhaps she just needed light company; she had family to reminisce with. Perhaps it was just comforting to not be alone for a few hours, maybe I helped her in this way.<\/p>\n
My experience in the hospice program has made me a lot more comfortable with talking about unpleasant topics like death. My boyfriend\u2019s grandmother just recently became a hospice patient. He is having a very difficult time coping with it. I think my experience with Seasons has really enabled me to be there for him and help him in a way that I probably couldn\u2019t before. I am able to reassure him that she will be more comfortable this way. I understand why she is exhausted with chemo, and I stress that hospice will bring her relief. I am glad that I had this experience, and I would like to visit my patient until graduation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first applied to become a hospice volunteer it was because of my Grandma. She became a hospice patient this summer at 97 years old. I ended up spending about a month with her just to keep her company. I was really glad that I did for three reasons. The first reason was that … Continue reading “A reflection on my time with Seasons”<\/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":[24],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","school-villanova","program_year-24"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","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=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"program_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_year?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}