Hospices Get Creative to Rebuild Volunteer Programs During COVID

Hospices are finding the need to be creative and adaptable as they rebuild volunteer programs that were suspended or diminished during the height of the pandemic.

Hospices rely on volunteers to organize educational programs, perform back office work, fundraising and to help patients stave off loneliness and social isolation. But need for social distancing and restricted access to patient homes and facilities dampened hospices’ ability to retain and recruit volunteers.

New Hampshire-based North Country Home Health & Hospice Agency (NCHHHA) was among the providers that saw its cadre of volunteers dwindle, though they operated a robust program prior to COVID-19, according to Alyssa Lennon, director of the company’s hospice operations.

“We had a decrease in volunteers willing to visit patients during the pandemic, down to almost one [person] that was willing to visit homes,” Lennon told Hospice News in an email. “Our spiritual counselors, however, would still visit the homes.”

Though the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily waived the requirement for volunteers to provide at least 5% of hospice patient care hours, providers are preparing themselves for its eventual reinstatement.

Of course, a principal factor was the very legitimate fear of acquiring COVID, particularly as many hospice volunteers are seniors themselves and therefore a vulnerable population. Researchers concluded that providers need to take a more considered approach to ensure safe work practices as they redeploy volunteers.

Currently, NCHHHA has an estimated five active in-home volunteers, according to a local news report. The company is working to replenish its volunteer base with a revamped training program, its first since 2019. Thus far, 10 prospective volunteers are participating.

“We were fortunate to have a strong turnout. We are excited about growing our volunteer program back up,” said Lennon. “Our goal is to be even stronger than pre-pandemic times. We would love to grow a robust program, it has such a positive impact on our patients’ quality of life and allows caregivers to take care of themselves as well!”

Volunteers play a key role in providing patient care and assisting families to reduce caregiver burnout, according to Lennon. But they can support a hospice’s bottom line almost as much as they do patients.

As of April 2019, the nation’s 420,000 trained hospice volunteers provided more than 19 million hours of service annually, generating more than $469 million in annual savings in staffing hours and operational costs providers, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Hospice volunteers also provide another touch point for patient engagement. This can provide clinical teams with insight into a patient’s needs and situation, according to Sheila O’Leary, volunteer program coordinator at Northern Illinois Hospice.

After sunsetting in-person volunteer activities, Northern Illinois Hospice’s volunteers were able to start visiting patients and families again in March 2021. The input that volunteers noted in patient records has been “just as valuable in that arena of interdisciplinary support as everybody else’s,” according to O’Leary.

“Some of our programs had bigger losses than others,” O’Leary told Hospice News. “It’s been hard and sort of a dance or a great balancing act to continue to support our clinical teams, patients and families while keeping everyone safe. We’re reassessing and rebuilding as we piece everything back together. It is all about seeing where the biggest gaps are, and what’s the greatest need right now.”

Though their roles may have morphed during the pandemic, some hospices adapted the ways they incorporate volunteers into patient care.

Several have kept volunteers connected with patients virtually or encouraged them to send letters, cards or care packages.

Some hospices have also taken advantage of the proliferating video communication platforms to develop online training program modules. This helped them keep volunteers engaged until in-person activities could resume.

As with their telehealth programs, some providers anticipate carrying these efforts forward post-pandemic.

“The bigger pattern is that we rethought volunteer roles, and how can volunteers still continue to support the organization, patients and families without making visits,” O’Leary said. “That has opened up a whole lot of opportunities that had not been part of our repertoire before. We can offer more options for online or remote opportunities and keep volunteers informed and engaged. That’s been an invitation to be creative for us.”

Staying nimble can make a significant difference in growing a volunteer base, according to Sandy Cody, volunteer services supervisor at Chapters Health System.

In normal circumstances Chapters has roughly 230 to 250 hospice volunteers, but they saw volume drop during the pandemic, Cody told Hospice News.

Nevertheless, Chapters has recruited more than roughly 70 volunteers during the past two years.

“We had to get creative, but it’s a rebuilding process,” Cody said. “The pandemic taught us to rely on each other a little more than before, and taught us that we’re resilient. We can get through things and can continue to serve our patients — we just have to look for different ways to do it. Change is hard, but some things we’re going to continue, because we still have volunteers who can’t or don’t want to come in.”

Vaccinations have been among the issues to navigate with volunteers. Though many of Chapters’ volunteers are vaccinated, some were unable or requested exemption, according to Cody. In response, the company introduced more activities they could do from a distance, as well as having upfront vaccination discussions during the volunteer onboarding process.

Chapters will continue to mix virtual and in-person volunteer support in the long term.

“We’ve found some positives in this,” said Cody. “We will continue to come up with projects that they can do at home. Our goal is to try to get back to where our volunteer levels were prior to the pandemic, and to continue to grow our programs. We are seeing some volunteers that had left reach back out, and that’s a great thing.”