10/23/2026
🥰
“I’m a volunteer baby cuddler at Covenant HealthCare and I volunteer in hospice as well. I was an employee here for many years. I started out in the NICU unit and ended my career working in hospice for the hospital, so it seemed like a perfect fit, once I retired, to be able to do the fun parts of both of those jobs. I just love loving on people.
I first started learning about hospice when I was in college. I had to take a death and dying class, and that was way back in the ’80s, when Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was just becoming more prominent. Eventually, I had two family members who went through hospice, and I was lucky enough to get a job as a nurse for Covenant Hospice quite a number of years ago doing hands-on patient care. Well, once I retired, I thought it seemed like a good fit to be able to come in and help to comfort folks during that time of their life.
Right now, I have a couple of patients that all they requested was to have cards sent to them. So every week or two, I send thinking-of-you cards with a little note on it. That might not seem like a big thing, but I did receive a card from a family around Christmas last year. They said their loved one had passed, but that they so enjoyed the cards that they actually had them taped on the wall next to her bed so she could see them. It comforted the patient. It comforted the family.
I like to do actual in-person stuff when I can. I might go once or twice to visit for a couple hours with them. I had one patient whose husband was her caregiver, and he did a wonderful job, but like many caregivers, he wasn’t taking good care of himself. So I would go for a couple hours so he could go to his doctor, get his dental work taken care of, or go out for coffee with a friend, and he knew that his wife had somebody there with her, that he didn’t need to worry about it.
Then I had another patient that was living alone, and when I would visit her, sometimes she would say, ‘Oh, I’m so hungry for a stuffed pepper. Do you like stuffed peppers?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah.’ So I’d go home and make stuffed peppers, and then bring her some. One day, she said to me, ‘You know, I love beef stew, and I haven’t had that in so long.’ And she wasn’t eating well at all at that point. So of course I went home and made beef stew. The next day, I called to see if I could drop it off, and a man answered the phone. I told him who I was and that I had this beef stew for her. He said she had passed away, and I hope that she knew I made beef stew for her.
A lot of people are not comfortable with the idea of hospice. They don’t like to think about death. They don’t want to talk about it. But the reality is, we’re not going to get out of it. We’re all going to have to go through it at some point, and unfortunately, we usually have to do it kind of alone. So, to me, I just think it’s really a gift if you can sit with someone—be it the actual patient or be it the family—and share an important, intimate time with them. You’re helping the transition go better, to be a little smoother. That’s a gift that you can give another person. And you do get so much more back out of it, knowing that you did your best to try and ease that time.
When I was working as a nurse, hospice was my very favorite job. To be able to share that time with people is so important. Towards the end of their lives, people often can’t talk to their immediate families about some of their concerns, and it’s a joy to be able to hear them talk about their lives: the good, the bad, things they regret, the things they loved. I mean, that’s a gift.
When you volunteer, you’re putting your hands out to give something to somebody else. I think that if we all volunteered in whatever area that we’re comfortable with, the world would be a better place. If we stepped outside of ourselves and looked to help others, I think that’s just a much healthier way to live your life. I’ve had people tell me that in other areas that I volunteer: ‘Why would you do this for free? You could be working. You could be making money.’ But I just think we’re supposed to be there for each other.”
—Patti Turner, Covenant HealthCare
