News

It’s here! A recently released book by Oxford University Press The Changing Face of Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care: An international perspective features a chapter on palliative care volunteering in Australia, a story about life as a palliative care volunteer and a poem by a second volunteer.

Alex Huntir from the Palliative Care NSW Volunteer Support Services Programme was contacted by Ros Scott, Volunteering Researcher & Consultant and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Dundee, to contribute Chapter 10 Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care in Australia.

A story by Palliative Care Volunteer Heidi Hodder was selected from the Your Story competition in 2016 to feature in the publication, appearing in Chapter 15 In our Own Words. Heidi told of her experiences of providing support for a lady in palliative care:

This role means a lot to me as I feel I’m making a positive difference to someone who is going through a really challenging time…She cries and smiles a lot when we are together and I know it means a lot to her that I care and understand. We are from very different cultural backgrounds but definitely on the same wavelength.

Volunteer Donna Mackenzie contributed a poem in the same 2016 competition that was also selected to appear in Chapter 15. The poem gives us a beautiful insight, through her reflections, literally and metaphorically into the homes and lives of people at end of life. Here is a short extract:

It’s the first knock on the door that’s the hardest,

The not knowing,

Not knowing what they are expecting,

These people near the brink of death …

This is the second book that Ros Scott and fellow editor Steven Howlett have produced following their Volunteers in Hospice and Palliative Care: A resource for voluntary services managers.

Purchase in print or ebook from OUP or your bookseller.