Inspired by Hospice Volunteers

By Ben Marcantonio

As a former hospice executive, I can tell you that volunteers are, and always have been, the heart of hospice. It’s important to remember that historically, hospice in the United States started as a volunteer-led grassroots movement. Later, the hospice Medicare benefit was enacted into law, formalizing the hospice system and minimum standards of care. Volunteer support for patients is quite literally a requirement of the Medicare regulations governing hospice care.  

This week, the country celebrates National Volunteer Week. NHPCO and our member hospices nationwide send a heartfelt “thank you” to hospice volunteers. Without you, hospices could not deliver the quality of care that end-of-life patients deserve.  

 As part of our National Volunteer Week celebration, I want to share a few resources with you:  

• The first is a video – “The Gift of Volunteering” – in which Mercedes Ibarra, a volunteer with Silverado Hospice in Irvine, CA, shares her experience as a hospice volunteer.

• The second is a video – "Nikita’s Mission" – about a pet therapy dog who volunteers with Heartland Hospice in the We Honor Veterans program.

•  The third is a list of five inspiring hospice volunteers who were recently honored as at the recipients of NHPCO’s 2022 Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Awards. Each honoree’s name links to a write-up about their service. 

In the first video above, hospice volunteer Mercedes Ibarra talks about her patients, saying: “I never knew I could love someone I didn’t know, that wholeheartedly.” That type of connection, that inspiration, that love – I saw that over and over as a hospice leader. That’s why I say that hospice volunteers are the embodiment of the theme of this year’s National Volunteer Week – “Volunteer Faces of Caring.” I hope you are as inspired by hospice volunteers as I am…not only this week, but all year round.  

P.S. If you are a hospice looking for communications resources to support your National Volunteer Week efforts, NHPCO is pleased to offer this NVW toolkit to our members. 

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Ben Marcantonio, MS, MEd, LMFT, is the Chief Operating Officer at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). He joined NHPCO in October 2020, bringing 30 years of leadership experience in educational, healthcare, and social service settings. Prior to joining the NHPCO senior leadership team, he was with Hospice of the Chesapeake where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer (2015-2020) and Chief Operating Officer (2013-2015). Prior to relocating to Maryland in 2013, he served as Chief Administrative Officer at San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine.