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(Honesdale, March 30, 2006) …It takes a special sensitivity to be a hospice volunteer, but the experience may not be what you expect. 74 year old Anne Dilella of Hawley began volunteering with Wayne Memorial’s Hospice Team about two years ago. “I wasn’t sure at first that it was what I wanted to do,” Dilella said recently, “I didn’t want to get depressed—and I didn’t. In fact, it’s been very rewarding. I find myself being thankful for everything I have. And thankful to be able to help someone else.”
Wayne Memorial’s Hospice Team is looking for more volunteers like Dilella to help terminally ill patients and their caregivers in every part of the Wayne Memorial service area—Wayne and Pike Counties in Pennsylvania and the Upper Delaware region of New York. Dilella puts in two to four hours a week, but volunteers can make up their own schedules, according to Joyce Malicky, Volunteer Coordinator at Wayne Memorial Hospital. “A hospice volunteer may be asked to help a patient who has difficulty walking or uses a walker. A volunteer may also be asked to run errands, prepare a meal or just spend time with a patient to give the patient’s fulltime caregiver a precious few hours off.”
Hospice volunteers are required to go through nine weeks of training, which includes presentations by medical staff and clergy representatives. The next training session at Wayne Memorial is scheduled to begin Monday, A