About Sue
Sue has been volunteering as an Aged Care Volunteer Visitor with Southern Volunteering SA’s Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme (ACVVS) for the past two years. Through regular visits, companionship and conversation, she supports older people experiencing isolation, including those receiving palliative care, helping them feel connected, valued and supported during challenging times.
Q&A Interview:
Disclaimer: The views expressed are the opinions and thoughts of our interviewees, reflecting on their own experiences and views.
As an aged care volunteer visitor, I have visited care recipients at home and in residential aged care facilities. I started with 3 people living at home and after 12 months they had all moved into aged care facilities, one person following a cancer diagnosis was on palliative care and has since passed away, and another person has late-stage dementia. My role is one of companionship. I am comfortable to talk about end of life, but I found my person was more interested in hearing about what I had been up to and listening to my news and did not want to dwell on their own health too much.
When I retired and I was looking at doing some volunteer work, I thought I would enjoy being a visitor in aged care as I know elderly people are often isolated and lonely. I thought it would be lovely to chat and share stories over a cuppa or take them on an outing. But to be honest I had not thought about the role extending into palliative care, so you can kind of say I fell into the palliative care volunteer space unintentionally. I hadn’t really considered that the elderly people I was visiting might one day move into palliative care. But that’s what happened and I knew I had to continue to visit and support them.
It has helped that the people I visit in palliative care I have already built a great relationship with through my visits under the ACVVS program.
To see someone’s face light up when I arrive, to be greeted with a hug, to have someone wanting to hear my news, despite everything they are going through with their health, warms my heart. I feel like for a short time they can escape from all their problems and just enjoy a chat and a laugh and be ‘normal’.
When I visit, I feel like a close friend. For some people they may not have any family, or family lives interstate or overseas, so my visit is important and welcome by patients/care recipient, but family also appreciate that their loved one has a regular visitor for companionship. Sometimes I arrive and a family member is there, and they feel comfortable that they can leave for a short time because someone else is there to comfort and chat with their loved one.
I feel very supported by the ACVVS program and the recent PalliLearn modules increased my knowledge and understanding of palliative care.
Nothing to add!
I think to do the training before volunteering in palliative care as this really helped me.
