At the very end, support may be at hand.
Folks may be aware of hospice services available for terminally ill patients. A hospice volunteer usually visits weekly to hold a hand, read a book or just be there so the caregivers can have a break.
For those facing imminent death, the patient or family may request to have a Providence Hospice &Home Care of Snohomish County 11th Hour volunteer come to the scene.
The specially trained volunteer knows what to do at the end – how to create a calm setting, how best to serve the family, whether to read or sit quietly by the bed.
“We offer support,” volunteer Leslie Miller said. “We offer the calming presence at the last minute.”
The Mill Creek woman credits her love of community service and people with her success at offering emotional support while people are dying.
She has organized political campaigns and fundraisers, worked as a reserve police officer for 12 years and established procedures for handling sexual assault and other legal evidence in a clinical laboratory.
She owns a company and is a professional speaker and trainer. That experience comes into play.
“When I arrive, I talk to the patient if they are able, let them know I’m there, touch their shoulder, hand or arm, mentally assessing the situation,” she said. “I ask who this person is and focus on the wonderful aspects of their life.”
Sitting at the bedside or being in the home of a dying patient is a very special time, said Treasure Omdahl, coordinator of volunteer services with Providence Hospice.
“You’ll find this to be an experience like no other,” Omdahl said. “It is very satisfying to make this transition easier for the patient and the family.”
Deaths in the family prompted Miller to become a hospice volunteer. “I was the caregiver for my parents, stepdad and grandparents,” she said. “I have compassion, an ability to love people. I can do that. All the volunteers I’ve met share that.”
Widowed at a young age, the Everett native is also a hospice volunteer who works with two patients.
Miller helped the YWCA Women’s Wardrobe Program and was a facilitator for Widow’s Information and Consultation Services. When she is called out for the 11th Hour program, she takes a bag packed with candles, water, books and a small stereo.
“We listen to learn their needs,” Miller said. “Sometimes, the family needs to talk. Listening is being there.”
She described her work as spiritual rather than religious. Her focus is making sure the patient is comfortable. She read a travel book to one woman who loved trips. She plays classical music on her stereo. In the 11th Hour handbook is a selection of poems and suggested books for the volunteer to read as well as share with patients.
Taking care of the 11th Hour workers after a death is a priority in the program. Miller unwinds with cultural pursuits.
Training is extensive, and there are follow-up duties. Omdahl said she hopes folks understand there are a limited number of volunteers, so every call does not result in someone being able to reach the patient.
At the very end, a hospice nurse pronounces the person dead. Part of the hospice philosophy is to not resuscitate the person, so medics are not called. It’s all about dying with dignity. Miller has never closed someone’s eyes the way people do in the movies.
She said in her experience, the eyes are always shut at the moment of death. She doesn’t pull the sheet over the head. Miller will sit with a body if that seems appropriate and wait for the family to arrive.
Spending some time with the body may be healing for some family members, Miller said.
“In our society, death is to be ignored, not talked about,” she said. “I look at it as the time when a soul is moving on and honor them.”
And if the end isn’t physically pretty, she is mentally prepared. After suffering through so many deaths in her own family, she took a year to regroup before she began her 11th Hour work.
“I felt like I had come home,” Miller said. ‘I was so in tune with the process. It’s very magical to me.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com
How to help
For more information about becoming an 11th Hour or hospice volunteer, call 425-261-4808.
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