Want an easy way to make a big impact in someone's life?
Join our team of upbeat, big-hearted people who help to bring peace to those with terminal illnesses.
As a respite care volunteer with UnityPoint Hospice, you stay with the patient to allow caregivers or loved ones time to take care of themselves. This may be time to get a haircut, go to the grocery store, or even a day-long outing with friends. A visit with a patient might last two to four hours (or, in rare instances, enough time to allow the caregiver a day-long outing).
Volunteers are essential to the compassionate and personalized care provided by UnityPoint Hospice. Before you can visit patients, Iowa law requires hospice volunteers to undergo 14 hours of training (as well as background checks). At UnityPoint Hospice, we provide some of that training in person, and some of it online. Training includes such topics as hospice philosophy, attitudes toward death, preparing for death at home, spirituality in hospice, communication skills, and grief/bereavement.
To become a volunteer, call Haley Tackaberry, volunteer coordinator, at 319-491-4498, or email haley.tackaberry@unitypoint.org.
UnityPoint Hospice provides individualized patient and family-centered care to eastern Iowans within a 50-mile radius of Cedar Rapids. UnityPoint Hospice volunteers serve patients and their families in their homes or in care facilities as well as in the inpatient unit at UnityPoint St. Luke's Hospital. Volunteers' many services include providing companionship, socialization, and two- to three-hour respite services.
