As we welcome in this new year, I wish you the best! Our team is grateful for your volunteer service. The new year is always a time of new beginnings! Some of our upcoming goals for the year include:
If you know of an opportunity to promote our volunteer program, whether at your church or a women’s or men’s group, a civic club or a community event, please contact your Volunteer Coordinator with details. You are our best recruiter to the communities we serve.
So many of you helped us during the holidays with delivering gifts, helping with the Tree of Life celebration, along with your regular assignments -- we say a big THANK YOU!
This newsletter contains a lot of wonderful things that are happening in the Volunteer Services department for Community Hospice and Palliative Care. If you have a volunteer experience you want to share with us, please email your story to your volunteer coordinator.
Happy Volunteering!
We need you! We’d love your volunteer assistance with our efforts in our expanded 16-county service area. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact Bertie Allender by phone at 386.530.6988 or by email at aallender@communityhospice.com.
Celebrating 40 Years of Outstanding Volunteer Service
As Community Hospice & Palliative Care celebrates its 40th year of service to our community, we reflect on our many accomplishments, the many challenges we have had to overcome and how, from the very beginning, our extraordinary volunteers have made it all possible. Our organization itself began as a volunteer movement, when Minister Paul Brenner and a group of caring and dedicated volunteers provided care for a single patient so that they would not have to die alone. These volunteers were tireless in their efforts to earn recognition for hospice care in the medical field, and to be reimbursed through Medicare. The licensure laws these pioneer volunteers lobbied for in Florida helped establish guidelines that every state would later model.
From these humble beginnings, Community Hospice & Palliative Care has grown into a provider of comprehensive end-of-life and palliative care and education for a large part of North Florida, with 950 employees and nearly 1,000 volunteers. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you and we look forward to many more decades of working with you to be the Compassionate Guide® for our community.
Navy veteran and volunteer Tim Lynch conducted a pinning ceremony with patient Albert Shipes, who served in the Army Air Corps as an aircraft mechanic on B17s and other aircraft. Please click here to see how Community Hospice & Palliative Care serves the veterans in our communities.
Merrill Lynch Food Drive is A Testament to Ongoing Generosity
Merrill Lynch donated more than 150 food baskets to Community Hospice & Palliative Care for our home care patients in November.
This is the 22nd year Merrill Lynch has generously conducted a food drive for Community Hospice. We send our deepest thanks to Jessica Esquierdo from Merrill Lynch for directing this food drive each year. The nurses and social workers who deliver the food baskets get to witness the gratitude on the faces of our patients and families.
The Volunteer Services Department offices overflowed with a bounty of gifts courtesy of Merrill Lynch!
AT&T Pioneer Volunteers Deck the Halls of Community Hospice!
During the first week of December, Mary Lou Hull and the AT&T Pioneer volunteers put up all the Christmas decorations at the Hadlow Center, the Neviaser Educational Institute, the Acosta-Rua Center, the Morris Center, the McGraw Center and the Warner Center. Thank you to the Pioneers for their dedication to spreading holiday cheer in our offices!
The Ocean Waves Quilters Guild held its annual Christmas luncheon at the Plantation Beach Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach. This year, 70 quilts were donated.
The Ocean Waves Quilters Guild took the time to lovingly handcraft 70 quilts for our patients.
Along with the quilts, Ocean Waves Quilter's Guild contributed a check for $200 for the Community Hospice Foundation. For each of the last 12 years, this group of ladies has invited a member of the Community Hospice & Palliative Care Volunteer Services team to the luncheon to receive a generous donation of handmade quilts to be passed along to various Community Hospice patients by enlisting our team nurses and social workers. Volunteer Coordinator BJ Sohn received the donation of quilts.
Volunteer Coordinator BJ Sohn (center) is pictured here receiving one of the quilts.
Here are just a few of the donated quilts.
Thank you for your faithful support, Ocean Waves Quilter's Guild!
Judy Ellis and Florida Blue Cross donated gifts for 19 Community Hospice & Palliative Care patients and their families. Judy has been leading this initiative for 15 years! What an awesome blessing -- thank you, Blue Cross!
The Marsh Landing Ladies Club decorated 18 lovely miniature Christmas trees for our patients. Betsy Beckham, Volunteer Program Trainer, (back row, left) and William “BJ” Sohn, Volunteer Coordinator (back row, center), join in this festive occasion.
As you know, this program provides an opportunity for you to help assist us with the pet needs of our patients. Since starting this program in 2014, we have:
We have some pets still in line waiting on their furr-ever homes:
Currently, we have and 1 dog and 4-6 cats that need new forever homes. If you are interested or know of someone who is interested, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Chris Whitney by phone at 904.407.0688, or by email at cwhitney@communityhospice.com.
You can also head to our Facebook page to take a look at these wonderful animals.
Please be sure to contact your Volunteer Coordinator for your copy of our 2019 Pet Therapy Calendar. Check out Benny Roo below in his festive garb. His partner is Volunteer Cindi Van Vleck. Thank you for your volunteer service, Cindi and Benny Roo!
Pet Therapy teammate Benny Roo is all decked out for the holidays!
For a fun way to show off your furry friend, National Dress Up Your Pet Day is Monday, January 14! Please remember that any clothing or costumes you select for your pet must not only be fashion-savvy, but safe and comfortable, too!
New Volunteer Coordinator Betsy Miller will be covering the Southside Home and Long-Term Care Teams along with the Hadlow Center Inpatient Unit and Front Desk. She has transitioned from the Community Hospice & Palliative Care Foundation where she has worked for almost a year.Before Community Hospice, Betsy worked as the Program Director and Visual Arts Coordinator with the Jewish Community Alliance here in Jacksonville.
If you are a Parent Family Volunteer and have not received the link to the new time clock /contact note, please notify your Volunteer Coordinator.
Just a note, Thrift Shop volunteers will be receiving this new time clock feature in the next few months.
We have conducted the first training for each of these new programs. For those of you who have gone through this training, watch If you are interested going through the next training, please contact Betsy Beckham, bbeckham@communityhospice.com or call 904.407.6117, to register.
Please be sure to check out the "Challenging Behaviors in Alzheimer's/Dementia" guide as a resource along with "Being A Healing Presence".
Please help us add to the Volunteer Team by asking your family members or friends to consider volunteering with Community Hospice & Palliative Care. Anyone who is interested can head here to complete our application.
Volunteer Opportunity: The next Pet Peace of Mind Paint Party is Friday, January 11, 2019. If you have experience with painting instruction and would like to volunteer at the party, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Betsy Miller at emiller1@communityhospice.com.
The Volunteer Services Department is available to help you at any time. The main volunteer number is 904.407.7064
For a complete list of the Volunteer Services Department, click here.
You can also visit the website at Volunteer.CommunityHospice.com.