Hospice officials offering training

| Tuesday, February 20, 2007

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RAPID CITY - Rapid City Regional Hospital's Hospice of the Hills department will offer hospice volunteer training classes Mondays, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., starting Feb. 26 and continuing through March 26. The classes will be in Rapid City Regional Hospital's Rushmore Room.

Hospice volunteers are needed to work with terminally ill patients in their own homes, assisted-living centers, nursing homes and in the new Hospice House, scheduled to open this summer.

Volunteering for Hospice does not require specific medical skills or a background in working with the terminally ill. Those who take the classes are not required to volunteer for Hospice of the Hills.

"We are looking for people who can reach out to others in everyday practical ways,"

Barbara Vargo, Hospice volunteer coordinator, said. "We know those who take the classes will have a special understanding of the challenges facing families as they care for a loved one. If the participant chooses to volunteer, they will be able to help Hospice patients who are living at home, in a nursing home or in Rapid City Regional Hospital's Auxiliary Hospice House when it is completed."

The classes are based on the Hospice volunteer training model and will include topics such as caring for the terminally ill patient, psychosocial aspects of dying, spiritual care, comfort care, pain control, advance directives and funeral planning.

Pre-registration is required for the classes, and Hospice of the Hills asks participants to contribute $20 to cover the cost of the training book and materials. The fee is waived for hospital employees and those who cannot afford the cost of the book.

For more information about the training, or questions about hospice volunteers, call Vargo at 719-7816 or 1-800-209-5719.