Let their lights shine
Many families support campaign year after year
A special bond is created between hospice volunteers and the patients and families they assist, says Eleanor Perry, chairwoman of West Prince Hospice.
“You become friends with the family; you become close with the patient,” she said. “You get attached.”
Hospice volunteers support families who are dealing with, or have dealt with, a life-limiting illness. When the patient dies, the hospice volunteer grieves along with the family.
“You’ve lost someone that you’ve sat with for months,” Perry said.
Despite that feeling of loss, she and the 46 other volunteers with West Prince Hospice continue to serve.
“When you think of somebody dying alone, it’s very heart-breaking, too,” she said.
Hospice volunteers are warmly welcomed, said Perry, noting families benefit from the support.
“It’s a comfort for the family: They know their loved one is not left alone. It means a lot to the families.”
Willard Day is new to the role of volunteer and grief support coordinator with the West Prince Chapter of Hospice P.E.I., but he already has a great appreciation for the work the volunteers perform and for the support the hospice program receives in the region.
Day, who moved back to his native P.E.I. a year and a half ago after a career in gerontology lecturing, chaplaincy work and counselling in Australia, is amazed by the generosity he is seeing.
He particularly notes the selfcare evident in the Island program.
“(The volunteers) are really great among each other,” he said.
Almost all provide hospice support, although a few long-serving members now concentrate on fundraising. Some also provide grief support. Day said some members recently participated in Hospice P.E.I.’s grief support training program.
Perry said Hospice P.E.I. receives generous support for its “Let Their Lights Shine” campaign, now entering its 24th year.
Many families have been supporting the campaign for years, she said.
“They’re great. Any time you go into the grocery stores: ‘When are you going to put your tree up?’”
For whatever donation they wish to give, donors are given a nametag to fill out in memory of a loved one and then place its ribbon over a bulb on the Let Their Lights Shine Remembrance Christmas Tree.