Volunteer Opportunities
Hospice Georgian Triangle recruits and trains volunteers to provide two main services - Volunteer Visiting and Bereavement Support.
Community Recognition
HGT would like to recognize Eric Potts, Christopher Gabriels and Matthew Virgoe for choosing Hospice Georgian Triangle for the Youth Philanthropy Initiatives Program. Stayner Collegiate Institute is to be commended not only in the support of this program, but for its encouragement of their students to recognize community charity work.
Gloria Emo
It was with a great deal of sadness that Hospice Georgian Triangle bid goodbye to a founding member, HGT volunteer and long-time advocate of palliative care in the South Georgian Bay area.
Gloria was such a well-rounded woman: educated, interested, knowledgeable, compassionate and giving. This was how she started with HGT, and how she finished. Everyone was welcome in Gloria’s eyes, everyone could learn, everyone had something to give and you always felt that in her presence.
Gloria acted as Client Services Coordinator/Executive Director for three years with HGT; when she left that position she continued, for the next 18 years, doing community and hospital visiting and then suite work supporting clientele who were suffering with life-threatening illness. She was a great favourite with staff, volunteers and clients alike. Her gentle humour, her wonderfully capable and calm manner, when dealing with clients in pain or who were highly anxious, was the epitome of HGT’s spirit of caring.
Her family was always uppermost in her mind and in her considerations: husband Ron Emo was once laughingly described as the “strong oar in the family boat.” She took great pride in her childrens’ personalities and accomplishments and would often have clients and volunteers alike laughing at the ‘goings on’ in the Emo household.
Gloria described herself as ‘naturally shy’ but her all-inclusiveness with those around her really kept things hopping, whether greeting old friends and neighbours in the suite, or translating her energy into other good works. She loved to sit with clients and pour over their albums of family and pets, present and long gone. She foreshadowed her own death a year ago, when she haltingly revealed one day at HGT that her nemesis of 10 years – lymphoma – was back. Straightening her back and throwing back her head, she was right back into a clients’ room to murmur comforts to help lessen their pain and to source alternative therapies’ to “ease things at bit…”
Gloria died the way she lived, keeping her family and friends close. She asked for little except laughter and comfort. She worried about everyone else. She hoped her cats wouldn’t stop eating. She wanted her funeral “to be nice.” She found it hard letting go, because life had been “so good.” She wanted to be remembered by those she’d loved and cared for.
Our family of friends at Hospice Georgian Triangle will not soon forget one of our gentle “legends.” Godspeed, Gloria.
Program Activities
The Visiting Volunteer Program
Men and women receive 30 hours of training in palliative care, providing them with the non-medical skills needed to assist clients and their families. Training sessions are conducted twice annually - once in the spring and again in the fall. Volunteers are the backbone of our organization and they share a common belief that quality end of life care should continue until death and that no one should have to make this journey alone. Volunteers provide non-medical support such as companionship, reading, gentle comfort measures, transportation when necessary and respite for family members or principal caregivers.
Clients are assessed from referrals received from medical or community sources and volunteers are matched according to needs. Education programs are ongoing, ranging from formal training sessions to seminars and conferences to maintain volunteer interest and commitment.
Bereavement Support
A grief and loss support service is extended to families of clients who have been in our care and referrals from the community or other health care agencies. Twice annually, Hospice Georgian Triangle conducts a bereavement support group lasting for 10 weeks per session. The group assists participants to learn coping skills for thier grief, as they have an opportunity to share and find support and understanding among people who have faced similar experiences.
A service for children our Rainbows program brings a specially trained facilitator together with children who are coping with any dramatic life change, through the loss or separation of a family member.
Trained professionals volunteer their time to facilitate the bereavement support groups. Opportunities exist for additional volunteer facilitators.
Educational Activities
Workshops and seminars for volunteers are held several times a year. These focus on topics that re relevant to and often suggested by our volunteers.
Training
Twice annually, in the spring and fall, Hospice Georgian Triangle sponsors a 30 hour training course for men and women interested in becoming a visiting volunteer. Through our volunteers, Hospice Georgian Triangle provides help and support to families according to specific assessed needs. The support may be physical, spiritual or emotional. It may be in the form of respite for a caregiver, companionship, reading, writing letters, walking the dog, listening or any number of different activities.
The 30 hour training curriculum includes:
- Introduction to Hospice Care
- Communication Skills
- Emotional, Psychological and Spiritual Issues of Death and Dying
- The Family
- Illness specific information and Infection Control
- Pain and Sympton Management, Practical Comfort Measures, The Challenges of Eating, Body Mechanics, Assists and other Skills
- Recognizing the Signs of Death
- Grief and Bereavement
- Ethical Issues in Hospice Care
- Responsibilities of the Volunteer
- Care for the Volunteer Caregiver
All visiting volunteers are expected to complete the training course, but volunteers helping Hospice Georgian Triangle with administration and fundraising do not need to do the training course.
An application form is available from our office or by mail. Call (705) 444-2555 for a complete volunteer training package. An appointment will be arranged to discuss in more detail being a volunteer.
A police check will be required. Full attendance is required in order to graduate.
Administrative Activities
Volunteers may become involved in the administrative activities of Hospice Georgian Triangle.
Fund Raising Activities
Volunteers are welcome to become involved in any of our yearly Fund Raising Activities.
