Eddington hospice offers volunteer training

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New Hope Hospice of Eddington is hosting a Hospice Volunteer Training session from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on successive Saturdays beginning April 29 and ending May 20, with the exception of an evening tour of Brookings-Smith Funeral Home in Bangor.

NHH volunteer coordinator Connie Eye explained that the curriculum will include safety and infection control, comfort care, hospice history and philosophy, spiritual care, psychosocial dynamics, funeral planning, communication, bereavement support, personal death awareness and the role of the hospice volunteer.

“In an ideal world,” Eye wrote, “we hope that volunteers will be able to commit to a year of service after the training.”

She explained that “there is no set or fixed amount of time, per week or month,” required of volunteers.

“Some cases require very little involvement … and other cases are much more intensive,” she added.

NHH volunteers are encouraged “first and foremost, to practice good self-care and prioritize their commitment to family and work, first, in order to be able to offer their gifts of body and spirit to patients and families. Volunteers are only asked to serve as they wish and as they are able.”

Eye believes the most important aspect of being a hospice volunteer is bringing “very human gifts to this work that goes beyond the medical needs of the patient.”

Volunteers have the opportunity “to take the time to engage in life review and address the emotional needs of not just the patient, but their families and caregivers as well,” she added.

“They find creative ways to enhance the quality of care offered and, often, make the difference in terms of the issue of quality of life for patients and families.

“I find it a great honor and privilege to be able to work with the talented and loving people that are willing to face the challenge of working with the terminally ill.”

There is no fee for the training, but to become a hospice volunteer, an application and a screening interview are required.

For more information, call Eye at 843-7521.

The next free Help Session for seniors needing assistance with the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, or Medicare Part D, is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at Bangor High School, 885 Broadway.

Trained volunteers will provide beneficiaries or caregivers with an online comparison tool to help narrow down the drug plan options and find the one best suited to the individual.

Preregistration is not necessary.

You should bring a list of current medications with the correct spelling, dosage and frequency; the price, name of the preferred pharmacy and a copy of any letters received from Social Security, the centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and the state, which are related to this prescription drug benefit.

The program, offered by Eastern Agency on Aging, is a cooperative project of Bangor High School staff and participating students.

For more information, call Val Sauda at EAA, 992-0148.

VolunteerMaine.org is the only statewide, online volunteer database, providing a central place for nonprofits to list volunteer needs and potential volunteers to search for opportunities.

The VolunteerMaine partnership is recruiting nonprofits to join the more than 500 organizations that use the site, reports Kim Goding of the Maine Commission for Community Service.

Online training about how to register and use the Web site is being offered, at no cost, for nonprofit organizations, schools and government organizations.

Agencies must be a valid, 501c3 organization, a medical facility where volunteers assist patients or a government organization such as a school or town, Goding indicated.

The online training times and dates are 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13; 8:30-9:30 a.m. and 10-11 a.m. Friday, April 14; 4-5 p.m. Thursday, May 18; 10-11 a.m. and 8:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, May 19; 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8, and 10-11 a.m. Friday, June 9.

You can register, online, at www.volunteermaine.org. For more information, e-mail Dorothy Grannell at dorothygrannell@Maine.rr.com or Jade Arn at Jade.Arn@Maine.gov.

Dorothy Simmons of Bangor read in Dear Abby about a nonprofit organization called Stamps for Children and has become a participant, sending used stamps to a New Jersey man who distributes them to children’s groups.

The stamps can be used as educational aids for history and geography classes, for arts and crafts projects, and to interest children in stamp collecting.

If you want to participate, send used stamps to Harold A. Effner Jr., 27 Pine St., Lincroft, N.J. 07738-1827.

For more information, e-mail haroldeffn@aol.com.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.