Hospice in Wooster seeks ‘vet-to-vet’ volunteers
Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare is seeking to expand its support to military veterans in the last season of their lives.
Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare is seeking to expand its support to military veterans in the last season of their lives. To do this, it is seeking military veterans who would be interested in providing “vet-to-vet” support to their fellow veterans.
“We use volunteers in many ways to support our patients and their families, but support to veterans is one aspect of our program that we’re working to build right now,” LifeCare Hospice manager of volunteer services Rebecca McCurdy said. “We still serve a few WWII veterans and Korean veterans, but most of the veterans we serve now are veterans of the war in Vietnam. We find that veterans can provide the best support to other veterans.”
Anyone interested is encouraged to call McCurdy at 330-264-4899 or 800-884-6547 or email her at RMcCurdy@lifecarehospice.org. LifeCare Hospice is a local not-for-profit hospice.
Volunteer training is scheduled to take place beginning the week of Feb. 24. Evening training will be offered on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. and daytime training on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. Both of these trainings will take place at the Wooster facility located at 1900 Akron Road.
If interested in knowing more before committing to hospice volunteering, the presentations on Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. and Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. will be good opportunities to check out what would be involved in joining.
There also are volunteer opportunities available for those who like to share music, who have a therapy pet or who simply want to visit a lonely person who is facing a very difficult part of his or her life.
“This kind of volunteering isn’t easy,” McCurdy said, “but it sure is worth it.”