Blessing Hospice seeks volunteers from Brown, Hancock and Pike counties

QUINCY — Blessing Hospice provides end-of-life care to terminally ill patients and support to their loved ones who provide the patient’s in-home care. 

Volunteers visit with patients for an hour, once a week, so their loved ones can leave the home to run errands. Volunteers may also serve on the Bedside Emotional Support Team. Those team members sit with a patient in their final hours when they are without the support of family and friends nearby. 

Connie Bealor has been a Blessing Hospice volunteer for 14 years.

“I checked into a lot of volunteer opportunities.” Bealor said. “I did not hear one negative thing about Blessing Hospice.” 

She says her patients give her as much as she tries to give them.

“They have each taught me the blessings of life, family and friends, and memories,” she said. “My life is even more meaningful since I have been a hospice volunteer.” 

Gene Soebbing, a seven-year Blessing Hospice volunteer, says his patient experiences have been educational.

“I learned things I never thought I would know. I had one gentleman teach me about horses – trotters and walkers. I had another that talked to me about tractors and another that taught me a whole bunch about cars,” he said. 

One patient remains vivid in Soebbing’s memory to this day.  He was an Alzheimer’s patient whose family told Soebbing the man loved country music. Soebbing would play different country music CDs when he visited with the man without receiving a response from the patient until the day he played Brooks and Dunn music. 

“He started tapping his foot,” Gene recalled. “I thought, ‘I finally got you. I finally connected with you.’” 

Blessing Hospice volunteers complete a training program before their first patient and family assignment.  Bealor and Soebbing say the characteristics of a good hospice volunteer are simple. 

“Care about your fellow human being and want to be of service,” Bealor said. 

“If you feel like your life has been blessed and you want to give back, this is a perfect way to do it,” Soebbing said. 

For more information on becoming a Blessing Hospice volunteer, go to blessinghealth.org/hospice or call 877-672-7610.