GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Holly Salas, the volunteer coordinator at Emmanuel Hospice, says the organization takes a holistic approach to care. That means they don't focus simply on their patients' medical conditions, but also on their mental, emotional, and spiritual needs.
The care team has the medical aspect of things covered, but they need volunteers to help out with the emotional and spiritual aspects of it.
"Volunteers are such a big part of that, because they give back in various ways. Emotionally, they provide comfort, companionship, and friendship. They do a lot of things in the spiritual and emotional realm that just can't be done by a lot of care team staff," Salas said.
"We have a lot of different roles to fill. We have people who love doing art. We have art facilitation volunteers. If you want to share virtual reality with a patient, we have virtual reality headsets. You can take them on a trip they've never been to or somewhere they've been and they just would love to revisit. We have visitors who go in and provide companionship to people who love pets."
Volunteers also help fill the void left when patients' family members can't be around.
"If they live out of state or they have full-time jobs, it's really nice to know that someone is there just supporting your family member, just being a friend and filling an area of need that you might not be able to fill. Our families have been so appreciative of that," Salas said.
The organization has a particular need for volunteers on the outer parts of their service area.
"We're talking about Belmont, Greenville, Rockford, Sparta Holland. If you live in this kind of wider range of a region in West Michigan, we'd love to have you. We don't have a lot of volunteers out in those areas, and so it's a little bit harder to meet those patient needs," Salas said.
Volunteers are typically 18 years of age or older and they must pass a background check and go through orientation. If you'd like to volunteer, you can sign up through the organization's website. You can also call 616-719-0919.
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