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Community Corner

Friends in Final Days

Supporting hospice patients is emotionally rewarding, volunteers say.

For Rita Rubinstein it was the extension of a dream of becoming a nurse. For Arnie Waldman it was the loss of a loved one. For both Rockville residents—two of the more than 100 volunteers in the JSSA Hospice and Transitions Program—their decision to dedicate their time to terminally ill patients was a matter of giving back.

“I feel I’m at a stage of life where I can and should give back,” Waldman said. “In my mind, younger people are not in a stage to do this.” 

He became a volunteer after the death of his mother. “Most of my life, I had very little—almost no—contact with death and felt it was time for me to explore as a spiritual thing," Waldman said.

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For Rubinstein, a Holocaust survivor, death was a familiar experience. She had always wanted to be a nurse. She and her daughter trained as hospice volunteers together.

“I want to give to the community,” Rubinstein said. “It’s very rewarding to help people deal with the end of their lives. It makes me feel wonderful. I get a lot out of it.”

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has provided an important support system to individuals nearing the end of their lives, and to their families, for more than 30 years. The JSSA Hospice and Transitions Program provides care where the patient lives and without regard for a person’s religion.

Volunteers come from all backgrounds and religions. Every volunteer receives 20 hours of training and commits to spending about two hours per week with their client. While volunteers form relationship with patients and families, they understand up front that the relationship is one that is founded on a professional as well as a personal commitment.

Hospice care is generally covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance. As part of the JSSA program, a team of professionals, including registered nurses, clinical social workers and chaplains, is available to participants. Clients entering the hospice program generally have six months or less to live.

There is also a Transitions program in which volunteers meet weekly with patients facing life-threatening illness. Volunteers provide companionship, emotional support, help with errands and shopping, and respite for caregivers.

Volunteers spend their visits in a variety of ways. “I wrote biographies for several [patients]," Waldman said. "It allows them to tell their story and it’s a legacy for their kids and grandkids.”

Rubinstein often speaks Yiddish to her clients and reads to them from the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books. A member of the singing group Die Freyliche Knaidlach, she also sings to clients.

“There are some who can’t speak but who remember songs and sing," said Amy Kaufman Goott, manager of volunteer services for JSSA Hospice and Transitions.

For more information or to volunteer, visit the JSSA Hospice Care website or call 301-816-2676.

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