YoloCares Seeks to Expand Revamped Volunteer Program

California-based hospice provider YoloCares revitalized its volunteer services during the pandemic. This will likely put the company ahead of the game when federal rules waived during COVID are reinstated.

The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) expires July 15. Unless the Biden administration once again makes an extension, this will end the regulatory flexibilities implemented during the pandemic. This means hospices will again have to ensure that volunteers provide at least 5% of care hours. 

YoloCares Volunteer Manager Andrew Moore had joined the nonprofit just months before the pandemic’s onset. At the time, the volunteer program was in a state of flux following YoloCare’s 2018 merger with Citizens Who Care (CWC).

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“We needed to go back to the foundation and build it back up,” Moore told Hospice News. “We had to work as much as we could to make as big an impact as possible to make people’s lives better.”

CWC volunteers since 1975 had offered companionship, respite visits and peer counseling services to seniors.

The post-merger integration had thrown some monkey wrenches into YoloCare’s systems for assigning volunteers to specific patients, as well as scheduling and documenting hours. 

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Moore also faced the unenviable task of explaining to long-time CWC volunteers that they would need additional training to meet Medicare hospice requirements, as well as provide personal documents and undergo background checks.

“They have to meet those same requirements. They are extensions of staff,” Moore said. “I knew that this was something the volunteer program was going to take a hit on. But at the same time, it is really going to set us up for success.”

Moore saw an opportunity for a new approach, beginning with implementation of a web-based volunteer management solution designed to manage scheduling, track volunteer hours and streamline onboarding, including digital storage of required documents.

This process had its challenges, Moore said, but it also fostered unity. Gradually, he saw the silos separating “CWC volunteers” from “hospice volunteers” start to come down.

“Not only were we transitioning all of these volunteers over, but we began breaking down the walls,” Moore said.

When COVID struck, every hospice in the nation had to stop on a dime and rethink nearly every aspect of care delivery, including their volunteer services. Providers had to think outside the box to keep volunteers and patients engaged, but from a safe distance.

Among other initiatives like letter writing campaigns, YoloCares volunteers worked with local flower farms to make and deliver floral arrangements to patients, many of whom were struggling with severe isolation.

The hospice also organized vehicle caravans to drive by patients’ residential facilities, often displaying signs and banners with comforting or encouraging messages.

Even in pandemic conditions, YoloCares volunteers provided nearly 3% of care hours, according to Moore. During Q1, their volunteers provided 9.5% of patient care, and the organization’s volunteer retention rate reached 85%.

For the remainder of 2022, the organization is focused on stepping up volunteer recruitment, as well as expanding the program’s range to an additional county.

“Right now we are really growing our volunteer group. We want to be able to match the volunteer to the patient more quickly because we have an overabundance,” Moore told Hospice News. “If I have 100 hospice patients on service, I want to at least have 100 volunteers available.”

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