Free Community Service

Reap the Rewards of Volunteering!

January 28, 2022

Join Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health’s Team of Hospice Volunteers.

Hospice volunteers know that helping others at the end of their lives is tremendously rewarding. Being part of a hospice team gives you the profound privilege of bringing comfort, peace and care to patients, caregivers, and their families during their transitional journey. Volunteers feel a greater appreciation of life itself, a deeper understanding of what’s truly important, and an authentic sense of fulfillment.

Why volunteer?

As a hospice volunteer, you become part of a person’s life when you are needed most. That sense of fulfillment is priceless. Also, without caring volunteers like you, there would be no Medicare-certified hospice programs. Medicare law requires that 5% of hospice care hours are provided by volunteers.

Who volunteers?

People just like you. Adults, young adults, and in some cases mature teens from all backgrounds, experiences, and cultures. Effective hospice volunteers embrace the fact that their role is one of compassionate service.

What skills do I need?

Most agencies like Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health, will provide the training and orientation you need to feel confident and comfortable with whatever level of support you choose to give. Training can include things such as grief counseling, boundaries between the volunteer, the patient and the family, and emergency medical support.

Do you love music? Sharing stories? Playing cards? Whatever passions, talents, or interests you bring can also be valuable assets. The most precious asset, of course, is simply caring.

What does a hospice volunteer do?

Ultimately, hospice care is about providing patients, caregivers, and families with the most comfortable and compassionate end-of-life experience possible. Your responsibilities will vary. In many cases it’s as simple as companionship. Sitting and talking. Or just listening. Or playing a patient’s favorite music.

You may also assist patients with tasks they can no longer perform for themselves. It may include anything from light household chores to lending emotional support to the patient’s family during this difficult time.

If you prefer to work in a different capacity, some hospice providers have opportunities to help with administrative office tasks.

What is the time commitment?

As with most things around hospice volunteering, your commitment can vary. It depends a lot on the time you’re willing to commit and the needs of the patients you are matched with. Some volunteers work an hour a week, some 2 hours each month.

I’m interested; how do I pre-register?

The next FREE VIRTUAL Hospice Volunteer training will start Tuesday, February 8^th and run 5 weeks through March 8th. All the training is done via two hour zoom meetings in the comfort of your own home. Contact Shannon Cassidy, Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health’s Hospice Volunteer Coordinator at 603-536-2232 or email her at scassidy@pbhha.org. For more information visit Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health’s Events Calendar.

With over 50 years of experience, serving clients from 29 towns in central and northern New Hampshire, Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is committed to creating healthier communities. Services include at-home healthcare (VNA), hospice and palliative care, and Community Programs including: American Red Cross CPR/AED/FA, Caregiver Support Groups and Grief and Bereavement Support Groups. Providing compassionate care with experienced staff who are trained, certified professionals in the business because of their hearts. In your time of need, we’re right where you need us.

Pemi-Baker is located at 101 Boulder Point Drive, Suite 3, Plymouth, NH. To contact us please call: 603-536-2232 or email: info@pbhha.org Like our Facebook Page: @Pemibakerhospicehomehealth

written by Anna Swanson

Loss & Grief: Some basics in processing personal grief

January 13, 2022

Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is offering a FREE grief and loss support series starting Tuesday, February 15^th running through March 29^th, 2022. Late morning and early evening times will accommodate all schedules and we invite anyone experiencing a personal loss to join us.

Since Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ pioneering work On Death and Dying in 1969, research and study on the very human experiences of grief and loss have come a very long way. The “five stages of grief” entered quickly into the storehouse of wisdom in the popular culture. Many people can tick off “Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance” when asked about the process of grieving. As helpful as these categories can be in opening up discussion, the truth is that “stage theory” has fallen on hard times in psychological studies.

Put simply, life experience is much too dynamic and deeply personal to fall into neat and progressive stages that follow one upon the other in predictable fashion. Kubler-Ross herself did not see her theory as being that way. It took our characteristically American linear way of thinking to do that. Generally speaking, we like things neat, but life is messy. Over the course of almost four decades, other theorists have included additional features in grieving, such as “shock”, “guilt”, “retreating”, “reflection”, “isolation”, and “working through”. There is a lot to consider if we are in the thick of trying to come to terms with a significant loss that has come into our life.

In a practical effort to begin to explore the intricate web of responses and reactions that human beings experience following upon significant life-losses, the Hospice program of Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health in Plymouth will be offering a series on “Loss and Grief: Some Basics” as part of its Bereavement services. The series consists of six sessions. Each session will include a brief educational presentation, a reflective exercise to assist participants in focusing on their experience of loss, and a time for sharing, questions, and discussion. Sessions will include such topics as: “My Concept of Loss”, “Evaluating My Loss”, “Coping Skills”, “Manifestations of Grief”, “What Helps and What Hurts?”, “Acceptance”, “My New Reality”, and “Recognizing My Strengths”.

The six week series will be offered on Tuesdays at two different times: a late morning group 11am-12:30pm or an evening group 5:30pm -7pm. In-person participation is limited to five people for each group; there will be hand sanitizer, socially-distanced seating and masks are required. Please pre-register with Guy Tillson, Bereavement Coordinator by email (gtillson@pbhha.org) or by phone (603-536-2232). Pre-registration required by Tuesday, February 8^th, 2022. Ask about possible accommodations virtually via ZOOM.

With over 55 years of experience, serving clients from 29 towns in central and northern New Hampshire, Pemi-Baker Hospice & Home Health is committed to creating healthier communities. Services include at-home healthcare (VNA), hospice and palliative care, and Community Programs including: American Red Cross CPR/AED/FA, Caregiver Support Groups and Grief and Bereavement Support Groups. Providing compassionate care with experienced staff who are trained, certified professionals in the business because of their hearts. In your time of need, we’re right where you need us.

Pemi-Baker is located at 101 Boulder Point Drive, Suite 3, Plymouth, NH. To contact us please call: 603-536-2232 or email: info@pbhha.org Like our Facebook Page: @PBCH4

Loss and Grief Support Groups for the Holiday Season

October 28, 2021

Because the holiday season can be a difficult time for persons who have endured a loss, Pemi-Baker Community Health will be offering TWO support groups in the months of November and December. These groups are open to anyone who has experienced ANY type of loss- the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, relocation to an unfamiliar area, or the passing of a beloved pet. The groups will offer an opportunity to listen and converse with others.

Both groups will be held in the Conference Room at Pemi-Baker Community Health at 101 Boulder Point in Plymouth, NH. For convenience, two times are offered: 11:00am and 5:30pm. Both groups will meet on the following dates: Tuesday, November 23 and 30, December 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2021. Because of ongoing COVID19 precautions, groups are limited to FIVE in-person participants. We will also try to accommodate virtual participants via ZOOM.

In-person participants MUST wear masks and sanitize their hands upon entering the Conference Room. There will be distanced seating. There is NO cost for attendance but you MUST pre-register by Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Registration will be on a “first come, first served” basis. To register, please contact Guy Tillson, Bereavement Coordinator, at gtillson@pbhha.org or by leaving a voicemail at (603) 536-2232. We hope that these offerings will assist those who need some support and living through “the holiday blues”.

With over 50 years of experience, serving clients from 28 towns in central and northern New Hampshire, Pemi-Baker Community Health is committed to creating healthier communities. Services include at-home healthcare (VNA), hospice and palliative care, on-site physical and occupational therapy and aquatic therapy in their 90-degree therapy pool. Providing compassionate care with experienced staff who are trained, certified professionals in the business because of their hearts. In your time of need, we’re right where you need us.

~Written by Guy Tillson, MA, MDiv, Hospice Chaplain

Pemi-Baker Community Health to Resume ‘In-Person’ Caregiver Support Groups

July 9, 2021

Pemi-Baker Community Health is pleased to resume offering its in-person community-based support groups for at-home caregivers. Meeting will be provided at the Boulder Point Conference room of Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth.

Caregivers Support Group:

First Wednesday of every month

Starting: Wednesday, August 4, 2021 (11:00am)

Our monthly Caregivers Support Group will begin its in-person offerings on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at 11:00am. This group will meet in the Conference Room at the Boulder Point site of Speare Memorial Hospital. The challenges of being an at-home caregiver (or even a long-distance one, as in the case of an adult child coordinating the care of a parent from some distance away) can be overwhelming, daunting, and exhausting. The experience naturally alters one’s freedom for social interaction beyond the home, and this reality was exacerbated as we lived through the height of the current pandemic. Although caregiving is an expression of love and concern, the constant vigilance required from the caregiver can be emotionally draining and the stress of it can have physical ramifications. Consequently, self-care is an important quality for caregivers to cultivate.

Connecting with other caregivers can help to lighten the emotional load imposed by this ever-increasing phenomenon that has become a part of contemporary American life as our population ages. We hope this gathering will allow for opportunities of sharing, brainstorming, problem-solving, and supportive listening.

The group will meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 11:00am. As they become available, relevant handouts and other materials will be offered. Participants for this group are also asked to check in per Speare’s current practice and to bring a mask with them for probable use during the group. The group will end by 12:30pm at the latest, depending on the energy of exchange generated by the participants.

Please pre-register the week prior to the meeting by contacting the facilitator: Guy Tillson, PBCH Hospice Spiritual Counselor and Bereavement Counselor, online via email at gtillson@pbhha.org or by phone at 536-2232, x 318. If you would prefer to participate virtually by ZOOM, please indicate that, and we will attempt to accommodate you. Group size is limited to TEN persons, so registrations will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis.

Written by Guy Tillson, PBCH Hospice Spiritual Counselor and Bereavement Counselor

Virtual Healthy Aging Series-Hard Topics Made Easy for Seniors and Those Who Care for Them

June 30, 2021

Pemi-Baker Community Health, Mid-State Health Center and Speare Memorial Hospital are collaborating to provide The Healthy Aging Series: Hard Topics Made Easy for Seniors and Those Who Care for Them. The virtual series will be a mix of videos and podcasts designed to educate and assist seniors, caregivers, and the community about topics related to healthy aging.

Each month a new presentation will be available from an expert at Speare, Mid-State, or Pemi-Baker. The series launches July 1^stwith the first episode covering The COVID-19 Vaccine, presented by Mid-State Health Center’s Dr. David Fagan.

Future episodes will cover topics such as Home Funerals and Green Burials, Staying Fit Indoors and Out, Communicating with Your Aging Parent, Advanced Directives and more.

For a complete schedule of events, to learn more about the series, and to subscribe to episode notifications, visit www.virtualhealthseries.com.

Grief and Bereavement Support Group- 6 Week Session

June 24, 2021

Pemi-Baker Community Health is pleased to resume offering its in-person community-based support group for grief and bereavement. We will be starting a 6 week series with meetings being held at the Boulder Point Conference room of Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth.

Because of COVID19 restrictions on social gatherings, many persons are living with unresolved and unprocessed issues of grief and loss due to abbreviated funeral or memorial services. We hope this will be a first step toward helping people come to terms with that bereavement and other issues of loss that have been neglected during the height of the pandemic. We will be making use of GRIEF ONE DAY AT A TIME by Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD. Dr. Wolfelt is a noted grief educator, having written several books about healing personal grief. His expertise derives from his compassionate interaction and caring service with mourners, listening to and reflecting on their responses to loss. He is the Founding Director of The Center for Loss and Life Transition in Fort Collins, Colorado. Although our group is offered for support rather than clinical intervention, the use of reading materials for the purpose of self-care and personal growth and healing is sometimes called bibliotherapy. The books will be made available at our first session of the group. We ask, if possible, for group members to make a donation toward defraying the cost of purchasing the books which group members will be able to keep for themselves. No one will be turned away if they are unable to make a donation.

Grief and Bereavement Support Group (Six Week Session)

Starting: Tuesday, August 3^rd, 2021- September 7^th, 2021 (11:30am-1pm)

The first session of the Grief and Bereavement Group will meet on Tuesday, August 3, 2021, at 11:30am. We will meet in the Conference Room at the Boulder Point site of Speare Memorial Hospital. Participants will need to comply with checking in there. We are limiting the group to ten participants in order to allow for ample social distancing in the meeting area. Participants are also asked to have masks with them for use. At our first meeting, we will review some basic guidelines for group participation, introduce ourselves to each other, and share the nature of the loss that brought us to the group. Using Dr. Wolfelt’s book, we will look at the meditation for that day, letting that be the springboard for our discussion and interaction. To prepare for the next session, the “homework” for participants will be to read each daily meditation throughout the following week. Our discussion at each session will emerge from our responses and reactions to the week’s meditations- what we liked or did not like, what was helpful or not. The energy of the group will determine the length of the gathering, but we will conclude before 1:00pm. The Grief and Bereavement Group will meet for six sessions, concluding on September 7, 2021. After some weeks’ break, we hope to be able to begin a new Grief and Bereavement Group on October 12, 2021.

You MUST pre-register in order to participate. Please do so BEFORE WEDNESDAY, July 21, 2021. To register, please contact the facilitator, Guy Tillson, PBCH Hospice Spiritual Counselor and Bereavement Counselor, online via email at gtillson@pbhha.org or by phone at 536-2232, XT 318. He will get back to you as promptly as possible. If you would prefer to participate virtually by ZOOM, please indicate that, and we will attempt to accommodate you. The group is limited to TEN persons, so registrations will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis.

~written by Guy Tillson

Learning About Caring For Dementia

April 16, 2021

When I first came on to Hospice work, my supervisor encouraged me to maintain ongoing self-study about various topics relevant to the work. One day, I pulled a book from the shelf in our office. An observant co-worker noticed and commented that I had grabbed “the Bible for caring for dementia.” The book is THE 36-HOUR DAY: A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss. The title itself, as does the book, pulls no punches. Providing ongoing care for a person with dementia is time-consuming, emotionally demanding, stressful, and exhausting, so that one’s days feel like they are longer than they are and packed with too much to do and remember.

The task can also be loving and rewarding, especially when the caregivers learn to take care of themselves as well. The book is also what it says it is- a guide to caregiving. The authors are Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins, both affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the John’s Hopkins University School of Medicine. Don’t think, though, that it is written with sophisticated terminology or an excess of medical jargon, making it heavy and dense. To its credit, the style is easily understandable and presented in a conversational, caring, and concerned tone directly to the reader who may already feel overwhelmed when first facing the challenge of caring for a spouse, a parent or grandparent, a sibling, or another acquaintance living with dementia. Above all, it is a practical volume, with all sorts of advice when confronting the many challenges of this type of care. Since its appearance in 1981, the book has been revised and edited six times to keep up with new information as it emerges. Over three million copies have been sold worldwide as of the publication of the 2017 edition.

The reader/caregiver is immediately immersed into the experience as the first chapter opens with the case history of a woman who begins to notice her memory is slipping and moves along as her limitations compound. The focus is first on her. What is she experiencing? What is she feeling? What can she do? Woven through this are brief accounts of her family members’ attempts to care for her and their experiences and feelings as their involvement becomes more complex. It recounts a loss of skills around self-care and social interaction, moving us all the way through her journey which ultimately end with her admission to a long-term care facility when her family arrives at the point of no longer being able to care for her.

In this introductory section, there is a brief presentation raising the question “What Is Dementia?” The book is careful to explore all sides of the challenges of caring for someone with dementia. The authors really walk alongside the readers/caregivers in taking the first steps toward assuming the responsibility of caregiving. Having read the book, I am hard-pressed to discover any stone that has been left unturned. Let me be quick to say that not all dementia patients end up in nursing homes. Caregiving story endings vary from case to case, very much the result of the many factors both patients and caregivers bring to their own unique circumstances.

The practicality of the book is manifest in addressing particular experiences from both positive and negative perspectives. This is done throughout the book as it anticipates a wide variety of responses and reactions from patients and caregivers alike. It progresses from dealing with initial manifestations of the disease through its more serious and complex concerns and on to end-of-life care. The development of this style moves from what to do about things like home safety, nutritional needs, medical needs, and personal hygiene on to “sun downing” (worsening behavior as a day moves toward its end) and “shadowing” (a clinging trailing after the caregiver) and on to more serious behaviors as wandering, combativeness, and inappropriate sexual behavior. These are only a smattering of the features presented throughout the book. The work is chock-full of all sorts of valuable information. A very simplified example of considering various sides of a problem might go something like this: “If your father is doing X, try redirecting him toward trying Y. If it works, and you can keep reinforcing it, all well and good. If he is unsuccessful or refuses to try Y, try Z. If the problem persists and remains unresolved, you may have to learn to tolerate X to avoid frustrating and angering the both of you.” (Not a direct quote)

What comes through quite clearly is that the caregiver/s must make changes in themselves as their loved ones become less and less the persons we knew them to be. Our intervention helps to support them and compensate for what they have lost. This is not easy. It is emotionally costly. It becomes the nub for the necessity of self-care for the caregiver/s. There is a whole chapter on “Getting Outside Help”. The authors draw on a tremendous fund of knowledge and experience in their offerings of factual knowledge about dementia and practical suggestions pertinent to caregiving. In many places, there are “Who to call or contact” directives regarding particular concerns. Of course, readers/caregivers will need to locate those types of resources available in their own area.

The chapter entitled “Special Arrangements If You Become Ill” and its subsection “In the Event of Your Death” both contain practical information for anyone whether or not they are currently in a caregiving role. The COVID pandemic has served to heighten our awareness for the need of preparedness in the possibility of emergency. It is to be hoped that it also has brought home to us the preciousness of our loving connections so that we do not over-burden our loved ones through our lack of practical foresight. There is another whole chapter “Caring for Yourself”. There is also a chapter regarding the needs of children and teenagers who may be living in a home setting where caregiving is being done. There are also sections and chapters on end-of-life care, financial and legal issues, and considerations about relocating care outside the home.

It is not until Chapter 17 (“Preventing and Delaying Cognitive Decline”) that the book returns to a more specifically medical and scientific consideration of dementia and its causes (Chapter 18) and research about dementia (Chapter 19).

Click here and learn more about our PBCH support groups!

In drafting this review, it was challenging for me to try to choose items that might grab a reader’s/caregiver’s attention in order to reveal the book’s appeal. I do hope I have done it enough justice so that you might consider borrowing a copy through the library you patronize or purchasing a copy for yourself. I have seen copies of the book on the shelves of our independent bookstores (Innisfree Bookshop in Meredith, Bayswater Books in Center Harbor, and Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord). Of course, it is readily available through Amazon and Books A Million. Quite simply, it is a superb guide, and I recommend it most highly.

~Written by Guy Tillson, MDiv, MA, Hospice Chaplain

PBCH is First Home Health Agency in Central NH Offering Homebound Vaccination Clinics

March 30, 2021

Emily Reid, Pemi-Baker Community Health RN administering a Covid-19 vaccination to a homebound patient and caregiver in Plymouth, NH

Pemi-Baker Community Health is partnering with the Central NH Regional Public Health Network (RPHN) to bring COVID-19 vaccine to homebound patients within their 22 town service area. This unique collaboration is just one example of many partnerships the Central NH RPHN has throughout the region addressing complex public health issues.

The Central NH RPHN is one of 13 regional public health networks funded by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to convene, coordinate, and facilitate an ongoing network of partners to address the delivery of public health services. Services can include: public health emergency preparedness, substance use disorder, and other disease prevention and health promotion activities to improve population health and community resilience.

Angel Ekstrom, the Central NH Public Health Network Coordinator, has been instrumental in coordinating partners to vaccinate homebound residents throughout the region reaching the most vulnerable. “Partnering with home health care agencies to vaccinate residents who are homebound affords homebound vaccine recipients to receive their vaccine from a familiar and trusted healthcare provider who, in many cases, regularly enters the recipient’s home. For those who are not clients of the home healthcare provider it connects homebound recipients to available services they may need” says Ekstrom.

Through Central NH RPHN COVID-19 response efforts, Angel has collaborated with partners across sectors in providing situational awareness, aiding partners in obtaining Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), standing up and demobilizing an Alternative Care Site (ACS), coordinating and operating mobile vaccine clinics addressing inequities, securing vaccine to meet Central NH RPHN needs and recently this partnership with PBCH to administer COVID-19 vaccine to homebound residents.

“We are very excited to offer vaccines to our homebound patients and their caregivers. We have been compiling a list of our own patients who cannot leave their homes to travel to a vaccine clinic and 211 NH has also given us names” said Kara Hamill, PBCH Senior Operations Director. Jenn Stewart, Infection Control Nurse, Penny Conlon, RN, Emily Reid, RN and Macayla Noble, LPN have undergone specialized training and have been conducting homebound vaccination clinics for three weeks, vaccinating over 80 people thus far.

Jenn Stewart, Infection Control LPN preparing vaccines.

To date, Pemi-Baker Community Health is the only Home Health (VNA) agency offering this homebound service in Central NH. “We are honored to collaborate with Angel and the Central NH RPHN and are very proud of the fact that although we have serviced multiple patients with Covid-19, we haven’t had a single Pemi-Baker clinician contract Covid-19 from a patient over the past year. While out in the community our employees have been very diligent following CDC, NH state guidelines and the guidelines that the PBCH Covid taskforce has laid out” said Jenn Stewart, LPN and Pemi-Baker Community Health’s Infection Control Nurse.

If you or a loved one cannot leave the house (homebound) and would like more information about this service please call Pemi-Baker Community Health at 603-536-2232.

~written by Anna Swanson

Advance Care Planning-An important home health service you shouldn’t overlook

January 14, 2021

FREE Zoom Workshops to help you ‘FILL OUT YOUR FORMS’, hosted by Pemi-Baker Community Health, in Plymouth, NH.

Have you wondered how to talk to your loved ones about what medical care you would or wouldn’t want in a medical crisis? Does your health care provider want you to have these conversations and fill out your end of life wishes? Would your wishes change if it was COVID-19 related? Pemi-Baker Community Health can help with all your advance care planning needs.

Advance care planning (ACP) is a process of understanding, reflecting on and discussing your experiences, values and beliefs in an effort to identify how you want to live if faced with a serious or life-limiting illness. It may include identifying the care you would want at the end of your life or the care you would want if you were too injured or ill to speak.

Download a Conversation Starter Guide

It is also important to choose someone to speak on your behalf if you are unable to make your own decisions, and take comfort in knowing that person will convey your wishes. This person is called a Health Care Proxy, in NH it is termed Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare. It could be your partner, a sibling or a close friend.

Download a Guide to Choosing a Health Care Proxy/Durable Power of Attorney

Once you decide what care you want and who to help voice your opinions, you will be ready to complete an ACP document, often referred to as an advance directive. This is the legal form from your state that puts your wishes on paper and legalizes them with witness signatures. When this form is complete, you will want to give it to and communicate your wishes to your family, friends, clergy, other advisors, physicians and other health care professionals to help ensure that your wishes are honored.

Download the New Hampshire Advance Directive

Take time to plan ahead now so future healthcare challenges don’t create difficult questions and unnecessary worry for family caregivers and decision makers. Pemi-Baker Community Health offers free monthly Zoom workshops to help you ‘FILL OUT YOUR FORMS’. Download the advance directive form from our website, poor a cup of coffee and join us for a group Zoom meeting to walk you through the form and answer any questions you might have.

Couple attending zoom workshop — Couple filling out advance directive forms with help from zoom workshop

Pemi-Baker’s Social Workers will be neutral guides helping you reflect on and identify the values, beliefs and goals that shape the way you make health care decisions. As experienced facilitators, they will explain how important sharing this information is to others so that decisions can be made for you if you ever cannot speak for yourself.

~written by Anna Swanson

Hospice Volunteer Graduates Announced

March 5, 2020

Pemi-Baker Community Health is pleased to introduce the newest members of their hospice volunteer team. The volunteers come from a variety of professional backgrounds and represent many of the 18 towns that PBCH serves. The spirit of hospice volunteering is borne from a genuine desire to give comfort, peace and care to patients, caregivers and their families during end of life. Many volunteers have had a personal experience with someone who has benefited from all that hospice offers and have a strong desire to give back to other families in their community.

Hospice volunteers help in a variety of ways: holding vigil, writing letters, reading to patients, light housekeeping, relieving family caregivers, helping with outside chores, grocery shopping, dog walking and holding meaningful conversations. No amount of time is too small; some volunteers give 1-2 hours per week, some give 1-2 hours per month. “We are always looking for wonderful people who have a passion for working with others. Our volunteers are so important to our non-profit organization and to those families we serve,” said Lauren Bell, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator for PBCH.

The volunteers completed a FREE, 5-week training course at PBCH’s Boulder Point location in Plymouth. The course covered the hospice philosophy, listening and communication skills, confidentiality, family dynamics, and bereavement support for clients and their families.

The next free training session will begin April 7th through May 5th on Tuesday afternoons, 2-4pm. For more information about hospice training or to register, please contact Lauren Bell, SW, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator at 603-536-2232 or by email at lbell@pbhha.org.

VOL NTEER…ALL THAT’S MISSING IS U!