Be a Hospice Volunteer

Jollytologist Allen Klein shares this beautiful story:

  When I was a hospice volunteer, one of the patients I was assigned to look after was an elderly woman who loved classical music. For many years, she, her son, and her daughter had season symphony tickets. But she was way too ill to use them now. Her prognosis was only a few weeks left to live.

  I discussed the situation with the hospice team and how we might get her to a concert. Perhaps we could put her in a wheelchair or even on a gurney and have her at the back of the theater. But in her condition, we realized that that would not work.

  Then I had an idea. I called the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of the leading schools in the country, and asked if they had a student who might volunteer to play something for a dying woman. A few days later, they sent over a very talented young woman, a violinist, who gave a private performance for the patient and her family.

  I wasn’t at the apartment at the time but from what the daughter told me the next day, it was glorious. She said that after the intimate living room recital, her mother told her, “In all my years of going to the symphony, that was the best concert I have ever attended.”

Pass on the Pleasure of Reading

Drop off your old magazines at a retirement home, hospice, or any other place where the residents or patients may enjoy them. At my place of work, we get large-print copies of our books sent in multiples, so we keep one for our library, send one to the author, and share the others with our local retirement home. An elder Beat poet lives in the El Cerrito village for seniors, so I can drop off a collection of magazines and large-print books and then sit down for tea and a nice chat. I leave having received much more than I brought with me.

Be a Hospice Volunteer

Jollytologist Allen Klein shares this beautiful story:

When I was a hospice volunteer, one of the patients I was assigned to look after was an elderly woman who loved classical music. For many years, she, her son, and her daughter had season symphony tickets. But she was way too ill to use them now. Her prognosis was only a few weeks left to live. 

I discussed the situation with the hospice team and how we might get her to a concert. Perhaps we could put her in a wheelchair or even on a gurney and have her at the back of the theater. But in her condition, we realized that that would not work.

Then I had an idea. I called the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of the leading schools in the country, and asked if they had a student who might volunteer to play something for a dying woman. A few days later, they sent over a very talented young woman, a violinist, who gave a private performance for the patient and her family.

I wasn’t at the apartment at the time but from what the daughter told me the next day, it was glorious. She said that after the intimate living room recital, her mother told her, “In all my years of going to the symphony, that was the best concert I have ever attended.”

Be a Hospice Volunteer

Jollytologist Allen Klein shares this beautiful story:

When I was a hospice volunteer, one of the patients I was assigned to look after was an elderly woman who loved classical music. For many years, she, her son, and her daughter had season symphony tickets. But she was way too ill to use them now. Her prognosis was only a few weeks left to live.

I discussed the situation with the hospice team and how we might get her to a concert. Perhaps we could put her in a wheelchair or even on a gurney and have her at the back of the theater. But in her condition, we realized that that would not work.

Then I had an idea. I called the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of the leading schools in the country, and asked if they had a student who might volunteer to play something for a dying woman. A few days later, they sent over a very talented young woman, a violinist, who gave a private performance for the patient and her family.

I wasn’t at the apartment at the time but from what the daughter told me the next day, it was glorious. She said that after the intimate living room recital, her mother told her, “In all my years of going to the symphony, that was the best concert I have ever attended.”