Just a Couple of Hours a Week as an Oakhaven Hospice Neighbour Can Make a Huge Impact on Someone’s Life!

Just a Couple of Hours a Week as an Oakhaven Hospice Neighbour Can Make a Huge Impact on Someone’s Life!

Posted for Oakhaven Hospice Trust

Posted by Volunteer First

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Do you enjoy helping others, chatting, listening and want to give something back to your community?

If you answered ‘yes’ and have a couple of hours a week to spare, Oakhaven Neighbours could be just for you!

Hospice Neighbours' is a free volunteer-led service available to Oakhaven Hospice patients and their families, offering companionship and a helping hand with everyday tasks that can be overwhelming when living with a life limiting illness.

The role covers the Oakhaven catchment area from New Milton, up to Totton, down Waterside and across to Lymington where the hospice is located. The area is spilt into geographical teams, so you will be supporting someone close to your home.

Full training is given with ongoing support, to be part of a friendly local team.

What skills do I need?

• Are aged 18 and over
• Good listening skills
• Patience, empathy, and understanding
• Flexible, reliable, and punctual
• A clear sense of personal boundaries and confidentiality
• Able to provide non-judgmental support
• Engage with training and development.

These highly trained volunteers visit the individual to provide companionship and assistance with practical tasks, for example, picking up prescriptions, light gardening, going out for a drive, shopping, recoding life stories or dog walking; every patient input is different. The time given often allows the carer a much-needed break and the prospect of a sharing time with a ‘Neighbour’ either over a coffee or whilst they are carrying out a task can offer huge comfort and solace.

A Neighbour explains what it means to him:

“It has been a privilege to be an Oakhaven Neighbour, and to be able to support those being cared for and their carers. I have found the support I have been afforded exemplary but moreover, the grace and resilience of those being cared for and their families’ truly humbling.”

A recent example of the impact Neighbours have:

‘I took my lady out in a wheelchair lent by Oakhaven; it was the first time she had been out in 6 years, except for within an ambulance! We went for a stroll around her housing estate; she absolutely loved it and was so happy feeling the breeze on her cheeks!!  I left a happy lady, and we look forward to going further afield next time!’