The Future: Help is AvailableWritten by Miami Phillips
How important do you believe it is to think about and visualize your future life? How important would it be to you if your cab driver wandered all over town, never getting anywhere but using up all your money and time? If you have no intention, or goal, one thing is absolutely sure. You will never get there. Sure you will get somewhere, but where? In our busy lives it can be so difficult to find time to do this planning. We spend so much time planning our vacation, but so little time planning our lives! Can you set aside some time to make this happen? As you go through this process, try to see your self in five, ten and even twenty years. Twenty years sure seems lie a long time. Look back twenty years. How long was it? Yes, me too. I have not planned very well for future. I am changing that now. Part of reason is our children. Part of reason is I see our parents in their 70s and 80s living on their social security. I do not want to be waiting every month for my check to come in mail.
| | Hospice Volunteer TrainingWritten by Rita Ballard, GVA, C.Ht.
I thought that when I became a volunteer, it would be as simple as approaching my chosen agency, saying, “I want to volunteer”, telling them in what capacities I was willing to serve, convincing them that I was a good and honest person, and it would be done. Sometimes it amazes me how simple life is - in my head, at least.I am in my second week of volunteer training for hospice. This is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The experience is proving to be nothing like I expected. I thought that it would be mostly middle-aged women. Our group is composed of 8 women. Of those, half are actually middle-aged, two are in their forties, and other two appear to be in their early thirties. I expected a lot of informational material, given in form of mini-lectures. Our group, however, is extremely interactive. There is definitely informational material being given, along with a lot of group dialogue. We discuss feelings and emotions surrounding issue of death. We talk about family dynamics, and past experiences. We share our stories and sometimes, our heartbreaks. We also watch videos. These are not videos that average person would find entertaining. These are stories about end of life, told by people who were dying. We also listen to various speakers, all team players in hospice program, and we hear about different scenarios that can go on in homes of clients. These team members talk about what hospice experience has been like for them as nurses, client bathers, social workers, and caregivers. We laugh a lot in our little group; and we cry. We are free to explore deepest and most poignant feelings that we have about death and dying. If we are going to sit with people and families in death process, it is best that each of us know who we are at our depths. We need to explore what we have to give, and what we hope to get out of experience. The families that hospice volunteers work with are looking for a calming influence, for some respite in care giving, and for a little bit of comfort. As a volunteer, we are taught what boundaries are in interacting with families, and what needs we may encounter. Through all of this training, we are constantly looking inside of ourselves to see what is really there.
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