Hospice Volunteer Helps Patients, Families Map Difficult Journey

With all of the volunteer opportunities available, why did Ann James choose The Hospice at the Texas Medical Center?

Eleven years ago, Ann’s mother was a patient in the Hospice inpatient unit. One day, a nurse came into the room as Ann sat on the bed feeding her mother Jell-O. The nurse said, “You must be a volunteer.” Ann never forgot those words. If while tending to her mother, she could be assumed to be a Hospice volunteer, they must be pretty special people. She signed up as a volunteer shortly thereafter, and today, still generously gives her time.

Ann says she got involved with hospice care to interact with those going through the same experience as her mother, to “give back” to the nurses and staff who had cared for her mother while she was a patient, and perhaps most importantly, because the Hospice was not spoken of much at that time. She wanted to educate those who are as uneducated about the facility as her family once was.

Ann has volunteered in patients’ homes, nursing homes and the Texas Medical Center’s Hospice inpatient facility, and has many stories to share about her experiences. Some of her favorites stories are of Al, a favorite, longtime patient. She once hosted a “picnic” for him on the porch of his nursing home. He was told to invite everyone he wanted to come and many residents joined in the fun. Before he died, he had been unresponsive for days, so the hospice nurse called and suggested that Ann come to say goodbye.

“I hurried down, and when I took his hand and spoke his name, he smiled, opened his eyes and squeezed my hand – his family staring in disbelief. What a moment!”

“When I hear someone say ‘You must be very special to be a hospice volunteer,’ I respond with, ‘What is special, is being a part of another’s final journey. It’s an honor and a privilege, each unique experience leaving me with an everlasting reward’,” she said.

Ann James represents the best of hospice volunteers. Despite many changes in her personal life and hospice facilities, she has diligently and faithfully performed her duties.

“Though many things seem to change, the families and patients never do. They still need someone to be whatever it is they need us to be, and to help them through their difficult times,” she said.

That is what she does so well.

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/04_01_03/page_21.html