Palliative Care - Eastern Health Wantirna
Volunteers assist in providing a supportive environment by visiting with patients and family. They have a willingness to listen, talk and assist in a non-clinical way. The requires resilience, patience and strength. Your empathy and calming presence will be of great support to our patients, their families and staff alike.
The role focus on life experience, personal attributes, and comprehensive orientation training. This program primarily looks for strong interpersonal traits and provide the specific knowledge needed to support patients and their families safely.
Skills required:
Emotional Maturity: Self-awareness regarding grief, death, and your own personal values.
Non-Judgmental Attitude: Acceptance of diverse beliefs, lifestyles, and philosophies.
Empathy and Compassion: The ability to provide warm, human connection without feeling the need to "fix" or "save" the patient.
Effective Listening: The capacity to listen deeply and remain comfortable with silence.
Patience and Flexibility: The ability to adapt to a patient's changing health and emotional needs.
Examples of duties include:
- Chat with patients and their families.
- Check patient flowers, change water and tidy as required.
- Tidy patient areas & make sure everything is in reach to reduce falls.
- Distribute handmade rugs, beanies, shawls etc.
- Create butterfly tiles and distribute.
- Assist with updating communication boards.
- Assist with returning general patient belongings to bereaved families(non-valuables).
