Volunteers
How to become a volunteer
What is the palliative care volunteer's role?
The volunteer's role is to strengthen the ability of the ill person, and his/her family and friends to live as fully and as richly as possible.
Palliative care volunteers provide:
- comfort and support to people and families living with a life-limiting illness in the home, hospital, hospices, residential aged care facilities and palliative care units
- contact with families through the time of bereavement following death
Volunteers may be involved in:
- listening
- providing emotional support
- assisting at mealtimes
- helping with transport/outings
- respite care
- maintaining contact with the family
- bereavement counselling
Who is a palliative care volunteer?
A palliative care volunteer is a person who:-
- is 18 years or older
- receives training and ongoing support
- enjoys meeting people
- is comfortable being with someone who has a life-limiting illness
- is an important and integral part of the palliative care team
- want to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of those who visit
- non-judgemental
Recruitment, Selection & Responsibilities
- Volunteers are selected and trained by individual palliative care organisations.
- Orientation includes such topics as listening skills, communication, loss & grief, self-care, understanding of life-limiting illnesses, the dying process, bereavement.
- Volunteers are unpaid and give their time to provide a caring service for other people.
- Despite their volunteer status, they are members of the Palliative Care Team, bound by the same professional standards of ethics and privacy.
Where can I volunteer?
Volunteers work where palliative care is provided. Palliative care is provided, if possible, where the ill person wants to be. Therefore, you may like to volunteer at a hospital, hospice, residential aged care facility or in the home. Volunteers are supported by the Volunteer Manager/Coordinator and are generally covered by insurance.
How to become a volunteer?
If you would like to find more about becoming a palliative care volunteer please contact the Palliative Care Council.
