Although volunteers are widely acknowledged as important members of the palliative care team, their unique contribution to whole-person care has not been well documented or theorized, especially in rural communities. We conducted a focused ethnography in a small rural community, asking key community informants about their understanding of the role of hospice volunteers with dying people and their families. Our results show that these volunteers inhabit a unique third culture of care that fuses elements of formal care with the informal visiting of friends and neighbours. Their role is shaped to a community context where dying is not a private medical event, but rather a whole-person-in-community event, and where care is offered as a natural expression of the interdependence and reciprocity that characterizes rural community life. Our results are a reminder that it takes an entire community to care for the dying, and that hospice volunteers are a crucial link in the network of care that allows people to die with dignity and quality of life.
Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA).A model to guide hospice palliative care: based on national norms and principles of practice.Ottawa: CHPCA; 2002.
2.
Health Canada Secretariat on Palliative and End-of-Life Care.National action planning workshop on end-of-life care: workshop report.Winnipeg: Health Canada; 2002.
3.
MountB.Volunteer support services: a key component of palliative care.J Palliat Care1992; 8(1): 59–64.
4.
BrazilK., McAineyC., Caron-O'BrienM.Quality end of life care in long-term care facilities: service providers’ perspective.J Palliat Care2004; 20(2): 85–92.
5.
BrazilK., ThomasD.The role of volunteers in a hospital-based palliative care service.J Palliat Care1995; 11(3): 40–42.
6.
OuelletteD.Volunteer issues committee: literature review.Ottawa: Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association; 2004.
7.
WilsonD., JusticeC., ThomasR.End-of-life care volunteers: a systematic review of the literature.Health Serv Manage Res2005; 18(4): 244–257.
8.
Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA).National norms for volunteers.Ottawa: CHPCA; 2003.
RomanowR.J.Building on values: the future of health care in Canada.Final report of the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada.Saskatoon: Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada; 2002 Nov. Available from: http://www.cbc.ca/healthcare/final_report.pdf
Claxton-OldfieldS., HastingsE., Claxton-OldfieldJ.Nurses’ perceptions of hospice palliative care volunteers.Am J Hosp Palliat Care2008; 25(3): 169–178.
13.
Claxton-OldfieldS., Claxton-OldfieldJ.(2007). The impact of volunteering in hospice palliative care.Am J Hosp Palliat Care2007; 24(4): 259–263.
14.
Claxton-OldfieldS., JefferiesJ., FawcettC.Palliative care volunteers: why do they do it?J Palliat Care2004; 20(2): 78–84.
15.
WeeksL., MacquarrieC., BryantonO.Hospice palliative care volunteers: a unique care link.J Palliat Care2008; 24(2): 85–93.
16.
EgbertN., ParrottR.Empathy and social support for the terminally ill: implications for recruiting and retaining hospice and hospital volunteers.Comm Studies2003; 54(1): 18–34.
17.
Herbst-DammK.L., KulikJ.A.Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients.Health Psychol2005; 24(2): 225–229.
18.
BullC., BainS.The rural elderly: providers’ perceptions of barriers to service delivery.Sociol Pract1993–94; 11: 98–116.
19.
GieslerW., RickettsT. editors. Health in rural North America: the geography of health care services and delivery.Camden: Rutgers University Press; 1992.
20.
BarerM.L., StoddartG.L.Improving access to needed medical services in rural and remote Canadian communities: recruitment and retention revisited. Discussion paper prepared for the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committee on Health Human Resources. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Health Services and Policy Research; 1999 June. Available from: http://www.chspr.ubc.ca/files/publications/1999/hhru99-05.pdf
21.
BushyA.When your client lives in a rural area. Part II: rural professional practice — considerations for nurses providing mental health care.Issues Ment Health Nurs1994; 15(3): 267–276.
22.
Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC).Comment on “Improving access to needed medical services in rural and Canadian communities,” by Morris L. Barer and Greg L. Stoddart (June 1999).Shawville (QC): SRPC; 2000. Available from: http://www.srpc.ca/librarydocs/commenbs.htm
23.
McKeeM., KelleyM.L., Guirguis-YoungerM.So no one dies alone: a study of hospice volunteering with rural seniors.J Palliat Care2007; 23(3): 163–172.
