Hospice/Medically Frail

[xEmmywemix]

I'm currently volunteering with hospice ( not as a licensed massage therapist yet since I'm still in school) but all volunteers are able to do simple hand massage and energy work...how it was explained to me is like Therapeutic Touch.

This is new territory for me, so I'm curious if those who may have walked this path before me have any words or experience, advice, or support?

I've already met a couple of patients and next week I will be going to visit on my own. I've got a quilt given to me by Hospice to bring with me to leave with the patients, and I'm also going to pick up some cd's of a specific type of music to share while I visit that one of them asked for when I met this week.

I'm really looking forward to getting to know and be with these folks as we meet at this crossing...just want to do all I can in my role to make it the best experience possible for them...

At the end of this month I'm also taking Massage for People Living with Cancer with Gayle Macdonald which I'm super excited about.

So just wondering if anyone here has experience here that might help me and/or those I'm working with...


edit: oh sorry this may belong in the next section below for injury/pathology/illness sorry!!!

 

[Victoria R]

Back when I was in school - 1992 - the school required hours of hands-on massage to be done at a school approved outreach site. Mine was a hospice in Dayton - about an hour from home. The best and most empowering and powerful experience of my live in and out of massage. You learn a lot about living every moment as well as how to work with individuals with all kinds of needs. A very valuable experience indeed. It can also be very heart wrenching when a beloved client/patient dies, but, still very wonderful to work with this strata of people.

Go forward, you won't regret it!

 

[Cynthis King]

Thank you for the encouragement, Anastasia!