Volunteer activities as a part of palliative care

How can volunteer workers provide help and support?

The volunteer is available as a reliable support person who’s in no hurry to leave, and who has been trained for the task.

In practical terms, this means that the volunteer can serve as listener, conversation partner, companion, fulfiller of small requests, or helper in daily tasks, either for the patient or for the patient’s loved ones. Some examples of situations in which volunteers can help:

• the decision to move to palliative care or hospice care is giving rise to complicated thoughts: the volunteer has the time to talk and is not afraid to talk about death

• the patient/resident or the loved one seems lonely or affected by anxiety: the volunteer may serve as company or someone to talk to

• the patient/resident is restless, but calms down when someone is by their side: the volunteer may enable the staff to go and perform other duties

• the end-of-life stage needs more meaningful content: the volunteer may read poems, books, or the newspaper out loud; accompany the patient/resident in looking at photos, watching tv, or listening to the radio; assist them in going outside; or sing or play a musical instrument.

• help is needed with everyday activities: the volunteer may assist in painting nails, brushing hair, shaving or putting in hair rollers, or applying hand or foot lotion

• loved ones at the patient’s death bed are becoming tired: the volunteer may give them the opportunity to take a break and get some sleep, go outside, or go home for a while

The difference between palliative care volunteer activities and other friendship services is that palliative care volunteers are trained to consider the impact that having an incurable illness has on a person’s life, and have the resources to discuss the topic if the patient wishes to do so. In addition, the volunteer is able to be by the side of the person and their loved ones up until the person’s passing. With the help of volunteers, it may be possible to provide the patient with continuous support if needed.

"It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to bring joy to someone.”

- Palliative care and hospice care volunteer

The cooperation between professional staff members and volunteers, and the help provided by them, enables the patient’s loved ones to focus on their most important role – that of people close to the patient.

"No one should be made to feel that they’ve been left all alone.”

- Hospice care volunteer

Every person participating in volunteer activities related to palliative care receives training for the task. During the training, the volunteer receives basic information about volunteer activities, the basics of palliative care and hospice care, and factors related to death and dying. They explore issues related to interaction and encountering another person indepth. The most important principles for a volunteer in palliative care are confidentiality and respecting the convictions of others.

Those interested in volunteer activities are interviewed and chosen based on how suited they are to the task. To make sure that the interests of the person receiving support are best served, it’s especially important to consider the applicant’s motives, values, and resources.

To help with training volunteers, Vapaaehtoisen käsikirja (a guidebook for volunteers, in Finnish) is available for download. Additional training instructions and materials are available on the website for the SAAVA project.

Good practices in volunteer activities include:

• training that includes consideration of the volunteer’s motives, values, and resources, and discussion of topics related to palliative care, hospice care, and death

• initiation when starting out as a volunteer

• providing newcomers with the support of an experienced volunteer (mentorship)

• clear, unit-specific operational guidelines

• regular guidance/supervision (with a representative from the organisation)

• commitment for a limited time period, with regular updates

Volunteers are people of different ages, from different backgrounds, motivated by the desire to serve as fellow humans in whatever the situation of the particular patient or patient’s loved one happens to be at the time. They are committed to what they do, and their activities are organised and guided. All volunteers sign a contract that includes a confidentiality clause.

"When a person’s life has shrunk to an area the size of their bed, small things become very meaningful”

- Palliative care and hospice care volunteer

Are you looking for an opportunity to volunteer in palliative care and hospice care?

Palliative care and hospice care volunteers in Finland operate in a wide variety of units: nursing homes, hospital inpatient wards, palliative wards, via home hospitals, and in hospices.

Volunteers are also trained and coordinated by various operators.

Information about operators and organisations training volunteers can be found in one place on the national SAAVA project website (in Finnish).

For information about volunteering opportunities, places to contact also include healthcare units providing palliative care and hospice care in your area.

The common goal of everyone involved in the patient’s care is to make a difference in the patient’s remaining life and make it as good and dignified as possible. When the care provided is good, nurturing, and comprehensive, it takes all aspects of the patient into account: the physical, the psychological, the social, and the existential. The patient’s loved ones are increasingly acknowledged as a significant part of care.

Healthcare professionals and volunteers

The patient’s care is provided by professional workers, and the responsibility for care always lies with them. The patient’s care is based on medical treatment and expertise. Volunteers have their own important role in palliative care: A volunteer is not a substitute for a professional, but supplements good-quality care by being able to give their time and being by the patient’s side on their journey through their incurable illness and as their death approaches. The aim is to provide support in living a life that is unique and the person’s own, until the very end.

Volunteers are not required to have healthcare experience or professional expertise, but they must be trained and initiated into their tasks.

Volunteers may operate in any unit with patients receiving palliative care. In other words, the setting may be the person’s home, a hospital inpatient ward, service housing with 24-hour assistance, or a palliative or hospice care ward. Volunteers may also provide support for the patient’s loved ones.

Operating according to recommendations

Volunteers are, and always have been, an essential part of palliative care and hospice care communities all over the world.

Volunteer activities in palliative care are supported by national and international recommendations.

In 2024, volunteer activities in palliative care also received their own national recommendation. The purpose of the recommendation is to introduce the principles and significance of volunteer activities in palliative care and hospice care, and to make it easier to get volunteer activities started in the reader’s unit.