Anonymous angels

WASILLA — Uncle Sam may be looking for a few good men and women, but there’s another dedicated army improving the quality of life for those nearing the end.

Mat-Su Regional Hospice has been providing palliative care to terminal patients and their families for 25 years, and is looking for more volunteers to bolster its ranks.

“We provide supportive care to people, that’s what the whole program is about,” said Ginny Stocker, volunteer coordinator for hospice. “It’s about enhancing the last six months of their lives, helping them to lead a real quality life.”

Hospice volunteers can perform a wide range of services, including running errands, talking with patients and families, reading to patients or just listening, Stocker said.

“That’s one of the biggest things I find is that it’s more family support,” said Wendy Jay, a hospice volunteer since 2008. “I listen a lot to concerns and problems they may be having. … It’s an awesome feeling that when you leave you know you helped not only the person, but you also visited with the family and really made a difference in just that little bit of time.”

Larry Winter has been a hospice volunteer since 2006 and said he maintains friendships with some family members after patients have died.

Being a volunteer “is the best decision I ever made,” he said. “Even some of the family members of some of the patients have become friends, and I can use all the friends I can get.

“My very first patient, the morning I went out he had gone into a coma the night before, so my attention went to his wife. She’s in her 80s now and I still keep in touch. Others, it’s very short-term, like the patient I went to see yesterday. An hour after I left, he passed away.”

Because being a volunteer can test a person’s emotional stamina, Mat-Su Regional Hospice offers training, Stocker said.

“It can be difficult,” she said. “We do a lot of training in the emotional aspects of hospice. One of the things we do is we prepare them for it. We do a lot of discussion among each other about our experiences. Volunteers have to be open, be able to work with a variety of people and be willing.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

HOSPICE TRAINING

Mat-Su Regional Hospice will host a pair of training classes for volunteers. The classes will meet from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays in September beginning Sept. 8 at the hospice office, Suite 220 of the Mat-Su Regional Outpatient Center on East Bogard Road. The class is free, but pre-registration is required. Call 352-4848 for information or to register.