Affinity group can aid your volunteer effort
June 1, 2002
Affinity group can aid your volunteer effort
Free support available
Thinking about starting a volunteer hospice program or volunteer bridge program? The Volunteer Hospice Network of Fredericksburg, VA, can help. VHN is an affinity group of more than 150 volunteer organizations across the United States that provide a wide variety of free services to the terminally ill, their families, and those who are grieving.
Members include volunteer hospices, grief support programs, and many other volunteer groups that care for the dying, whether or not they are called "hospice." Although a few volunteer hospices provide medical care, most focus exclusively on practical, respite, emotional, and bereavement support. The core values of volunteer hospice include respect for diversity, love of community, and protection of local solutions, says Rhoda Eagan, president of VHN.
VHN provides free technical and professional support on issues such as management, fundraising, board of directors, volunteer recruitment, and volunteer training. Member volunteer hospices share their expertise on how to:
- start a volunteer hospice;
- establish a residence project for patients without primary caregivers;
- structure volunteer home care teams;
- create a bereavement center;
- form a children’s grief camp;
- form partnerships with Medicare hospices and palliative care centers;
- transition from a Medicare hospice program to a volunteer hospice.
[Editor’s note: Contact Rhoda Eagan at 607 Hawke Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Telephone: (540) 371-2367. E-mail: [email protected].]