DUKE HOSPICE VOLUNTEERS
CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS, THEIR LOVED ONES, AND EACH OTHER
Duke Hospice Volunteer Newsletter
September 2012
Upcoming Events:
Friday, September 7 from 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Real Happiness: The Power of
Meditation, Reynolds Theater, Duke University West Campus. Advance tickets $15
($20 day of lecture). New York Times bestselling author Sharon Salzberg,
cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, will share her belief that happiness is
not shaken by conditions but begins with imagining that stable and open happiness
exists, and could exist for us. During the evening she will explore notions of
happiness, strength, aloneness, and possibility. The event will include practicing
meditation along with dialogue and discourse. Suitable for both beginning and more
experienced meditators. For tickets or more information, call 919-286-1207.
Friday, September 14 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Durham Hilton, 3800
Hillsborough Rd., Durham. One Day at a Time … Creative Approaches to
Care for Those with Memory Disorders. Sponsored by Duke HomeCare &
Hospice. Nationally renowned dementia expert Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L,
FAOTA, will present a daylong workshop for professionals and caregivers.
You will gain skills and knowledge to allow you to care for and communicate
more effectively with those who have memory disorders, dementia and / or
Alzheimer’s Disease. Everyone in our community is invited to attend (registration is $60).
Contact April Perry at april.perry@duke.edu to register or for more information.
Carolyn can give you information on the discounted rate for Duke Hospice Volunteers.
Saturday, September 29 at 10:30 a.m. DHCH Annual Service of Remembrance will be held at the
Carver Gardens on our Meadowlands campus in Hillsborough. The service is open to all grieving persons
in our community, and usually lasts less than an hour. Though not specifically religious in nature, it is a
spiritual and moving event that includes readings and music, and a time for individual commemoration of
the deceased. Please encourage anyone you know who has lost a loved one to attend and consider
coming yourself. For more information, call our Unicorn Bereavement Center at 919-644-0764.
Saturday, September 29, 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteer sessions on spirituality,
ethics and communication from National Volunteer Virtual Conference will be
available for viewing at the Durham office. If you were not able to join us for the
conference in August but would like to view some of the sessions with a group, please
contact Carolyn.
Date Change for 2013 Camp ReLEAF. Next year Camp ReLEAF, our children’s overnight
bereavement camp, will be held the weekend of April 27-28, 2013. Information on volunteer
opportunities will be available in early 2013.
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Volunteer Opportunities:
Recognizing our veterans at the end of life: Our veterans recognition program is off
to a great start! These moving ceremonies have prompted powerful stories and heartfelt
expressions of gratitude from the families and friends of our dying vets. Recently our
staff shared this story about the impact of both our veterans recognition and care shawl
programs.
“One of our patients and spouse received a pin and a red, white, and blue care shawl
during the veteran’s recognition ceremony. Later, at the graveside service, the casket was draped with the
care shawl and then covered with a flower arrangement. The patient’s spouse and son wore the veteran
pins proudly on their jackets. And the morticians folded the care shawl with honor. The moment touched
everyone.”
Thank you to our volunteers for sharing a gift that makes our veterans and their families feel proud and
honored. We are looking for additional volunteers who are veterans to help us present pins and
certificates to veteran patients to let them know we value their service to our country. We are also looking
for volunteers to create red, white, and blue care shawls. If you are a veteran interested in helping with
the presentations or a crafter who would like a copy of the shawl pattern, please contact Carolyn.
The September Admission Packet Assembly (aka PAPER SLAM!) workday will be Saturday,
September 29 from 9 a.m. - noon at the Durham office. Call Carolyn if you would like to participate. This is
a low investment / high impact project we undertake almost every month to keep the paperflow in the
agency running smoothly. Please grab a friend or two and come along. Snacks are on us!
Brick Dedication and Service of Remembrance Volunteers Needed: Duke
Hospice Bereavement Services is requesting your help with our upcoming
Brick Dedication and Service of Remembrance, two separate events held on
the same day in the lovely Carver Gardens behind the Unicorn Bereavement
Center -- Saturday, September 29. We will begin with the Brick Dedication at
9:30 a.m., followed by the Service of Remembrance at 10:30 a.m., and will
need volunteers at varying times throughout the morning. Outdoor set-up
(some heavy lifting) starts at 8:30 a.m., reception / food set-up begins at 9:45 a.m., and clean-up can take
until noon. We have other jobs within this timeframe (parking, ushering, balloons), so you can stay as little
or as long as you like, and enjoy the service as well. We could also use donations of baked goods for the
reception – always a hit! Peggy Kinney is in charge of these logistics and can be reached at the UBC at
919-644-6869, ext.221, or by email: peggy.kinney@duke.edu. We always have a good time together, and
look forward to hearing from you.
All our programs value the volunteer support they receive and we have many requests for
additional weekday clerical support at the Durham office as well as the Bereavement Center. If
you have time to make a regular commitment, please consider this important project:
volunteers needed to make customer service phone calls weekday afternoons from the
Durham office. If you or someone you know might be interested in helping, give Carolyn a call.
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Thought-provoking Information:
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The Diane Rehm Show, “Family Conversations About End-of-Life Care,” the August 8th show with
a clinical psychologist, a clinical ethicist, and the director of the Commission on Law and Aging of
the American Bar Association. You can listen to the broadcast or read the transcript.
http://thedianereamshow.org
“Big Med” by Atul Gawande, MD, The New Yorker, Aug. 13, 2012. Restaurant chains have
managed to combine quality control, cost control, and innovation. Can health care?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/13/120813fa_fact_gawande
The 18-hour focused-weekend training for Patient / Family Support volunteers will run September
21-23. If you or some generous-hearted person you know are interested in training for some of the most
rewarding volunteer work you’ll ever do, contact Carolyn Colsher for more information and to register for a
place in the class. Current volunteers are invited to attend to refresh their training or participate in the
volunteer panel on Sunday afternoon, September 23.
Hock Family Pavilion Volunteer Receptionist / Ambassador training is scheduled for early fall at our
Durham office. Because the ambassadors staff the front desk at the HFP for 12 hours a day, 7 days a
week, every day of the year, we have a continuing need for caring and compassionate people who will be
the face of Duke Hospice to every new visitor to the in-patient unit. If you or anyone you know would like
to volunteer to answer phones, greet visitors, and provide general support at HFP, contact Carolyn for
more information.
And a question for you volunteers on the front line—in the homes and nursing
facilities that are the homes of our patients: Do you ever get stumped by a
situation in your volunteer work? You are not alone. Use the resources of your
hospice team to support your work with your patients and families. Call Carolyn or
Gricelle to talk things over or to ask to be connected to the nurse, social worker,
chaplain, or nursing assistant caring for your patient.
The 2012-13 season at Playmakers Repertory Theater in Chapel Hill cranks up in September with John
Logan’s Tony Award winner “Red” and runs through the spring with a full schedule of Tony and Pulitzer
winners and theater classics galore. If you would like to be on the contact list for the free tickets available
through their Spotlight on Service program, please let Carolyn know. Our volunteers who attend these
performances rave about their quality and sign up early.
Flu season is around the corner. As the weather turns cool and we spend more
time indoors, we also enter flu season. Getting vaccinated against influenza is the
most effective way to prevent you from getting the flu, and it’s the primary way that
you can help safeguard our patients, your hospice colleagues, and our community
from the spread of potentially deadly strains of the flu virus. Some people think that
getting the flu vaccine early in the season means that its effectiveness will wear off
before the end of the flu season, but that is not true. Getting the vaccine as early in
the flu season as possible provides the best protection against the flu—protection
that will last from the time you build immunity to the end of the flu season. We encourage everyone to be
immunized this year. Please contact Carolyn to find out if you are eligible for a free flu shot.
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We are getting a jump on 2012 National Hospice Month (November) because we are trying to get the
good word out about the benefits of hospice care: providing professional and volunteer comfort and
compassionate care to patients with life-limiting illnesses and supporting their caregivers. Hospice is
dedicated to ensuring that your friends, families, and neighbors face the end of life with dignity, with pain
control and symptom management in their home, wherever home might be. To recognize National
Hospice Month, we have inserts for your faith community bulletin / newsletter. Our hope is that you use it
in conjunction with your November publications. We will provide you with enough for your church
membership. If you are interested in distributing these inserts, please call Carol Ann Mullis at 919-4790315 and let her know the number you need.
What do Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Michael and Nadine have in common? They are the
post-Isaac 2012 Hurricane Season names. We’ve been lucky in the Triangle that
the major storms this year have lost our address but it pays to be prepared just in
case Oscar or Patty makes landfall and heads our way. Please take all the
precautions necessary to prepare and protect yourself and your family in the case of
a hurricane. Gather supplies, be prepared to evacuate, and stay tuned to your local
news sources for weather updates. Sources for preparation checklists include
www.wral.com, www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/hurricane (this site also has
information about a free hurricane app for your smart phone), and
www.nws.noaa.gov/os/hurricane/resources/TropicalCyclones11.pdf. If bad weather threatens a planned
visit with your patient or a trip to work a shift at the inpatient unit or the central office, put your safety first
and postpone the trip.
Reminders:
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All calls with a 919 area code must now be dialed using the ten-digit number.
Please check your volunteer badge and let Carolyn know if it will expire soon so she can
order a new one for you.
Gricelle Font is available weekday mornings to support our volunteer program. If you
need assistance when Gricelle is not in the office, please call Carolyn at 919-479-0385.
A RESOURCE FOR YOU Continuing Education for September: “Just Plain Stephie:
Conversations at the End of Life” by our very own social worker, J. Scott Janssen, MSW, LCSW.
For more information contact:
Carolyn Colsher, DHCH Volunteer Services Supervisor
(919) 479-0385 (phone) (919) 970-0227 (pager) carolyn.colsher@duke.edu
Gricelle Font, DHCH Volunteer Program Coordinator
(919) 479-0499 gricelle.font@duke.edu
Website: dhch.duhs.duke.edu
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.
--Chinese proverb
And thank you, as always, for everything you do for our patients and families.
Carolyn and Gricelle
Mission Statement: Duke HomeCare & Hospice will provide innovative, thoughtful care, using an interdisciplinary team approach,
to achieve the best possible outcomes for the patients, families and communities we serve.
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