National Volunteer Week - Palliative Care Volunteer Services 2020
This week is National Volunteer Week 2020 (11-24 May) and the theme is 'Changing Communities. Changing Lives.'
The theme is reflective of the impact volunteers have on communities and Palliative Care Volunteer Services in Broken Hill provide many hours of support to patients: up to 1500 hours annually for Dementia Delirium and Palliative Care Volunteers visiting in the hospital, and for Community Palliative Care Volunteers up to 450 hours annually. Across the nation volunteers commit countless hours serving their communities and help to change the lives of those living in them.
Change occurs in our community and in the lives of the people we connect with as Palliative Care volunteers. Our community is more inclusive when we value the connections we create with others. Lives are enriched because volunteers give so freely of not only of their time, but their kindness and sincerity to sit with people whose life has changed due to illness. Volunteers can recognise the changes that illness brings and also appreciate the person who lives with that illness.
Many lives are changed, influenced and touched by volunteers; patients in hospital, patients at home, nurses, families and carers. Palliative Care Volunteers change lives by bringing a sense of 'normal' to the people they visit and providing an opportunity for people who are unwell to talk about things other than their illness, to laugh sometimes and to share their feelings if they wish to.
During National Volunteer Week and with National Palliative Care Week the following week, Far West LHD acknowledges the wonderful work all our Palliative Care Volunteers do to impact positively on the lives of patients and carers, and for the many hours they give to helping others.
Anyone interested in Palliative Care Volunteering can contact Janet Pearce, Palliative Care Volunteer Coordinator on 8080 1733.