Volunteers are the core of the Hospice care team. Our carefully selected and trained volunteers provide a source of comfort and strength at a stressful time for our patients and families. We recently sat down with one of our many long-time volunteers, Jim Moffett to learn more about him and his time volunteering with Hospice.

Below is our current Wish List needs: 

• Bed Alarm Pads
• Steno/Legal pads
• Cheap kitty litter (to dispose of old/discontinued medications)
• Gallon-sized Ziploc baggies
• Travel neck pillows (to help with positioning)
• Lysol disinfectant wipes

O’Connell Electric has been a long-time supporter of Hospice of Central New York and Hospice of the Finger Lakes. Our relationship began in 2011 with their support of our Annual Tribute Lights Appeal which included the lighting of our Solace Garden for the holiday season. Each year thereafter, the O’Connell Team arrived with their bucket trucks, lights, and manpower to place lights on our trees in the garden – no matter the weather. The O’Connell Team has been a generous donor to our Agency since then and will be the Presenting Sponsor of our Hospice Golf Open on June 12th. Their generosity is humbling when listening to the stories of each team member and how Hospice has had an impact on them personally. Thank you to the O’Connell Team for your gracious and generous support through the years. We look forward to continuing our relationship for years to come.

We recently spoke with some of our friends on the O’Connell Team:

Tell us a little about O’Connell Electric and how long have you been serving the Central New York Community:

“O’Connell is a full-service electrical contractor serving New York State and surrounding regions of the northeast with offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and the Albany metro area. O’Connell has been serving the Central New York Community for over thirty years and has grown to be recognized as one of the largest commercial contractors in the region by the Central New York Business Journal.”

How and why did you choose to support Hospice?

“I have the best job in the entire organization! I am surrounded by so many people who just want to show kindness and make a difference.” This is how Michele Devlin, the Volunteer Program Manager here at Hospice of Central New York and Hospice of the Finger Lakes, describes her position. She has so much regard for the amazing volunteers without whom, Hospice would be unable to run – literally.

Michele explains that our Hospice Medicare Benefit requires that, “5% of all patient care hours need to be performed by volunteers. So we have to find people willing to step into that role. These are people that decide to raise their hand, go through 18 hours of training, and be willing to give us their precious free time. Without these thoughtful and kind-hearted people stepping up to fill these roles, our Hospice wouldn’t exist.”

Michele, a lifelong Central New Yorker, came to us in 2005 with almost no knowledge of, or experience with, Hospice. She gives credit to Gail Longcore and Susan Conover, both longtime Hospice employees who instilled in her “the passion for the mission, and the confidence
to do the job.”

Michele enjoys working with the volunteers and getting to know their backgrounds, personalities, and skill sets so that when the time comes to provide a volunteer to be in the home with a patient and their family, she can choose just the right volunteer to make the difference. She takes that responsibility very seriously, saying, “I never forget that every patient is ‘somebody’s someone’ and the most important person in the world to someone who loves them.”

She praises the abilities of the volunteers she works with. “They have taught me a lot about patience, kindness, and meeting people where they are at. The volunteers have done so much to change my life view.”

Michele is always looking for motivated volunteers, from those who visit patients and families in the home to those who enjoy helping with office work. She also needs volunteers to fill specific roles, including veterans for our Veterans Program, licensed hairstylists for home visits, and Reiki practitioners at Level 2 or above. Training for in-home volunteers is presently held twice a year. “We hold trainings in Onondaga County, but if there is enough interest in Cayuga and Oswego counties, we will set up a training there,” explains Michele. “We work around their precious free time. You get to say, ‘no’ and you don’t have to feel like volunteering has become your job.”

Based on the smile we see on her face and the laughter we often hear in the halls, we can attest that Michele definitely loves her job!

To read the full Spring/Summer Newsletter, please click HERE!

No one wants to know what Hospice is all about until they need to know. We understand. We also understand, though, that if people knew more about Hospice care ahead of time, that they could make an informed, confident decision, and that both the patient and caregiver(s) could have vital support and guidance sooner in this personal journey. Often, we hear from surviving family members say how they wish they had contacted Hospice sooner, and that they didn’t know just how much they themselves needed support until Hospice was there to provide it. Open and honest communication is important. For someone uncertain about reaching out for Hospice care, who better to hear from than someone who can speak from experience. We would like to share your story.

If you are interested in sharing your own personal experience as a written testimonial as a way of opening the doors for families who find themselves needing to know more, please email us at: testimonials@hospicecny.org.

 -Laura – Survivor

 “The Hospice staff saw a person and saw beyond his illness. There were so many times my dad was ready to quit but you all gave him hope. My Dad is perhaps the strongest, most committed man I have ever met. In the 17 years he battled his illness, all he ever wanted was more time and you gave that to him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Amid a pandemic, you all found a way to partner with our family and to give my Dad a chance to finish his unfinished business with dignity.”

-Jim – Survivor

 “We all face end of life. It’s not easy. But Hospice is here to provide the compassionate care needed to help ease patients, caregivers, and families through the process. Hospice staff and volunteers are patient, caring, knowledgeable, and always available. They provide guidance. They listen and soothe. They smile and laugh with us. They feel our pain. They deal with our anger and frustration. They cry with us. They help us, as best they can, to die with dignity. Then after death, they help caregivers and family through the difficult and painful process of coping with loss. Time does not heal. What heals is who and what we fill the moments in our life with between the time a loved one dies and the present. Hospice is always here to help fill the holes left in our lives.”

To read the full Winter Newsletter, please click here!

Giving Back Never Felt So Good!

Long-time and dedicated friends and supporters of Hospice, Dirk and Carol Sonneborn, graciously donated a generous gift directed to “treat our Hospice staff to something special” in recognition of their hard work.  This thoughtful gift provided our Hospice Staff with 15-minute chair massages provided by the talented massage therapists of Hand in Health Massage Therapy.  For three full days, a massage therapist was available to provide healing and support to any staff member that needed it.

To read the full Winter Newsletter, please click here!

THANK YOU!

We recently received grant funding to upgrade and replace our current Barracuda Backup Server Appliance 390 to 790. This server provides backup and data recovery of our entire network and protection from increased cyber-attacks.

Thank you to the following foundations and individuals for their generous support of this project.

• The Central New York Community Foundation
• The John Ben Snow Foundation
• The Jacquelyn & Steven Miron Fund
• The Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman Foundation

To read the full Winter Newsletter, please click here!