Special Report: Recruiting, retaining hospice volunteers
Hospices develop a variety of programs to recruit and retain long-term volunteers
Volunteer hours skyrocketed at one hospice
Recruiting and retaining volunteers is likely to become a more challenging task as current societal trends continue, including the increasing time crunch many families experience.
A recent U.S. Department of Labor survey found that 45.6 percent of people who don't volunteer cited lack of time as their main reason for not doing so.1 (See chart about volunteer statistics.)
"We know that the national trend for volunteering is that people are having to work longer, they're not retiring as early, and they might be taking care of grandchildren, so our volunteer demographics are changing," says Sandra L. Huster, BA, director of volunteer programs for Covenant Hospice Inc. in Dothan, AL.
Hospices require considerable up-front, volunteer training, which might range up to 20 hours at some hospices, and this can be an even bigger obstacle to recruitment, says Dedra Stodghill, BS, volunteer coordinator for Abbey Hospice in Social Circle, GA.
For this reason, Abbey Hospice keeps the training to six hours, and it can be held on a Saturday or in the evening, spread over two days, she says.
After the formal training, hospice volunteers receive one-on-one training, which is more personal and directed toward helping them find a niche within the hospice organization, Stodghill explains.
"We try to send new volunteers out with a seasoned volunteer because it's difficult to walk into a patient's home the first time," Stodghill notes. "And when they're ready to visit their first hospice patient, we send them out with a staff worker."
Covenant Hospice requires eight hours of preparatory training for volunteers, covering all of the training components required by Medicare and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) of Oakbrook Terrace, IL, Huster says.
"Then we'll provide inservices for all of the other things that are good to know," Huster adds.
Hospice volunteers tend to be older than volunteers in general, Stodghill notes.
The Department of Labor's 2005 volunteer report found that 35 percent of the people who say they volunteer are ages 35 to 44, and 33 percent are 45 to 54 years, the two groups with the largest percentages.
But in an informal survey Stodghill conducted of hospices, the largest percentage of volunteers (35 percent) are age 65 and older, and the next largest group is in the 55-64 year age range.
"I think people are somewhat intimidated by hospice," Stodghill says. "But recruiting people to volunteer in hospice at younger ages helps dispel some of the myths about hospice."
In Florida's coastal Brevard County, about one-fifth of the population is retired, and more than half of the hospice volunteers are over age 55, says Marilyn Cromer, MSW, LCSW, volunteer/bereavement manager at VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of Brevard County in Melbourne, FL.
"We have a number of volunteers in their 70s and 80s, and they have had years of volunteering," Cromer says.
It has been VITAS' experience that older hospice volunteers tend to stay with the hospice longer, Cromer adds.
The one sure-fire strategy to increase volunteer recruitment and retention is to devote a staff position to the role of volunteer manager.
Since VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of Brevard hired a full time volunteer manager, the number of hours volunteers donated to the hospice has skyrocketed, Cromer says.
The hours increased from 465 volunteer hours, valued at $8,163, between Jan. 1, 2003, to Sept. 30, 2003, to 4,814 hours, valued at $84,479, in 2004, Cromer says.
In the three months after Cromer was hired on Sept. 30, 2003, the volunteer hours were 453, valued at $7,948, she says.
Cromer, Stodghill, and Huster describe some strategies hospices can use to recruit, retain, and diversify their volunteer base:
1. Show volunteers how they can find time for hospice training and service.
"One thing I have found very interesting is right after the holidays if I hold volunteer training in January or February, registration skyrockets," Stodghill says. "But when they do start volunteering, they say they don't have the time for it, or their interest falls off."
When people say they don't have time to volunteer, hospice staff could respond that volunteers don't have to give an abundant amount of time, Stodghill suggests.
"That's where we have to get creative and look within our organization to see what folks can do in short periods of time," she says.
"It's becoming more difficult to recruit volunteers who have time to visit patients once a week and who will remain volunteers for five years or longer," Huster says. "That's changed, and we're looking at episodic volunteering or one-time volunteering."
For example, a church might decide to provide one day of volunteer service to a hospice, so it's a good idea to keep a list of projects that need to be done, Huster suggests.
A patient and caregiver might need help with raking their lawn, or another patient might need a ramp to be built to the front door, Huster says.
"Someone else would like a home-cooked meal, or our office might need sprucing up with some flowers planted outside," Huster explains. "We always have some projects on a list."
One year, a Harley Davidson motorcycle club called the hospice to offer to adopt a family for the holidays, Huster recalls.
"We told them of a family with three children, gave them the ages, and they covered Christmas for that family, including bicycles for the children," Huster says. "People often want to give, and sometimes we're not specific enough in how we ask for help."
2. Develop volunteer projects for non-traditional hospice volunteers.
Stodghill's small hospice survey's findings suggest that hospice volunteers are more likely to be older white women than are volunteers in general.
While the Department of Labor's volunteer survey found that 30.4 percent of volunteers are white, Stodghill's hospice survey found that 88.6 percent of hospice volunteers are white.
To diversify the hospice volunteer base, hospices could recruit volunteers at African American churches, Stodghill suggests.
Sometimes all that a volunteer recruiter needs to do is ask people if they would consider volunteering, she notes.
More than one-fourth of people who volunteer say they volunteered because someone in their group asked them to, so that works, Stodghill says.
"The other piece of the puzzle is we need to meet their needs," she says. "The African American community has to see how it will benefit them, and the same is true with men and any group that doesn't volunteer for hospice."
For instance, the hospice volunteer director could visit an organization like the Rotary Club and say, "You know what, I have a good opportunity for you," Stodghill says.
As a hospice's region becomes more diversified in its general population, it's time to take a look at adapting volunteer recruiting methods to meet this new challenge, she says.
"Here in Georgia, we have a growing Hispanic population, so I need to look at what I can do in my program to increase the Hispanic volunteer base," Stodghill says.
Also, hospice managers should think of volunteer work that might interest male volunteers more than visiting patients, Stodghill suggests.
"We have had one volunteer who was very good about helping out patients with yard work and things like that," she notes.
Other volunteers might answer the phone, stuff envelopes, provide help with filing, help with the computer system, paperwork, and data collection.
VITAS has a volunteer who visits once a week to input data on the computer of all of the volunteer hours donated to the hospice, Cromer says.
"He won't leave until he finishes the task," Cromer says. "He has a sense of ownership for the job of recording volunteer hours, and the job has grown from one hour a week to four to five hours a week."
3. Provide social experiences for volunteers and show them appreciation.
Most hospice volunteers cite altruism as a chief reason for wanting to help out, Cromer notes.
They might be church-going people who have a sense of needing to give back to help the less fortunate, or they might be motivated by a belief in the mission of hospice because they've personally witnessed hospice at work, Cromer explains.
"Once they've jumped in and had the experience, they get a wonderful sense of satisfaction, and they say they get back far more than they give, and that's true of any hospice," Cromer says.
Hospice volunteers also thrive on having a bonding experience with each other, and this leads to a sense of connectedness, Cromer says.
"I think we have to promote that and recognize it and provide avenues to keep our volunteers connected with each other," Cromer says.
This can be challenging because hospice volunteers tend to not see one another during their volunteer service, so it's up to a hospice to provide social experiences in which volunteers can interact and bond, Cromer suggests.
This could involve an ice cream social, inviting volunteers to staff meetings, or holding other social events, she says.
"In the hospice arena, people do work in isolation, so for people who have that need for affiliation, we recognize that and offer opportunities for them to get together," Cromer says.
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care also shows volunteers appreciation through birthday cards and thinking-of-you cards when they are hospitalized or sick, Cromer says.
"We call volunteers once a month to say "Hello," and to thank them for what they're doing, and to see how they're doing and if they have any questions or concerns," Cromer says. "We try to reach out on a regular basis."
Another way to show appreciation is to assist volunteers with transportation problems when these arise.
For instance, at VITAS, one volunteer who is in her 80s is unable to drive, so when she needed daily training for a week to become an office volunteer, another volunteer would pick her up and take her to and from the training session, Cromer recalls.
And another volunteer drives her to the office where she volunteers one day a week.
During National Volunteer Week in April, VITAS holds a volunteer party based on themes. This past year's theme was a Mexican fiesta, and it included a Mariachi band, Mexican food, games, and contests, Cromer says.
"Around Thanksgiving we have a covered dish dinner; at Christmas we have a holiday party, and once a year we have a picnic for staff and volunteers," Cromer adds.
Reference
1. Volunteering in the United States, 2005. United States Department of Labor. Dec. 9, 2005. Available: www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm.
Need More Information?
- Marilyn Cromer, MSW, LCSW, Volunteer/Bereavement Manager, VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of Brevard County, 4450 W. Eau Gallie Boulevard, Suite 280, Melbourne, FL 32934. Telephone: (321) 751-6671.
- Sandra L. Huster, BA, Director of Volunteer Programs, Covenant Hospice, Inc., 2855 Ross Clark Circle, Suite 110, Dothan, AL 36301. Telephone: (334) 794-7847.
- Dedra Stodghill, BS, Volunteer Coordinator, Abbey Hospice, 215 Azalea Court, Social Circle, GA 30025. Telephone: (770) 464-5858. Email: [email protected].
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