Brandon Woman Shares News About Being Hospice Hope Volunteer

For almost two years, Sharon Krohn, an Agnesian HealthCare Hospice Hope volunteer, has been serving area individuals and their families as they face end-of-life care through this vital service.

            Sharon, a Brandon resident, was invited to become a volunteer by her daughter-in-law. One of her first efforts was to help launch Hospice Hope’s Forget Me Not and Veteran programs.

“I learned to quilt in a program through my church and brought on the idea of making lap quilts for veteran patients,” Sharon recalls.

Through the Forget Me Not program, volunteers help create a tangible memory piece, such as a thumbprint necklace, memory jar or video history for Hospice Hope patients and their families.

Volunteers – like Sharon – also help create veteran lap quilts which are presented by veteran volunteers to veteran patients during a pinning ceremony where the patient is thanked and recognized for their service. To date, Sharon has made about 50 quilts.

“I enjoy making people happy,” Sharon says. “When I first started volunteering, I enjoyed visiting my patients and found it very rewarding to know that I made their day just by taking the time to visit them.”

Her quilt works dominates her volunteer time today, and she finds it very rewarding to show her appreciation for veterans through the Veteran Program. “It is the least I can do for them.”

And, Sharon would pass on her daughter-in-law’s endorsement to anyone considering a volunteer opportunity. “It is worth taking the time to try it and get to know someone new that you might not have otherwise met,” she says. “What you put into it is what you get back. Hospice volunteers can build new meaningful friendships.

Hospice Hope offices in Fond du Lac and Green Lake office are currently looking for more volunteers to assist patients and their families.

Volunteers play a crucial role in our services by supporting our patients and families in direct patient care, respite care, bereavement care, pet therapy, administrative work, medication delivery and more.  Agnesian HealthCare Hospice Hope provides an extensive training program designed to equip volunteers for the varied types of service.

The next training session is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, May 2 at Ripon Medical Center, 845 Parkside Street in Ripon.

Hospice offers a supportive, palliative (comfort versus cure) and compassionate care program to patients who have a life-threatening illness, and do not want, or cannot proceed with, aggressive curative treatment.  Hospice Hope care offers a team of caring people trained to meet the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of patients who have a limited life expectancy, as well as the needs of their families and caregivers. There are as many volunteer opportunities as there are individual preferences for service!

If you have the desire to help others, the willingness to share your time and talents, want to grow personally, and give something back to your community, consider becoming and Agnesian HealthCare Hospice Hope volunteer.

Volunteers are placed in their own geographic areas and Agnesian HealthCare Hospice Hope is in need of volunteers in your area today.

Application deadline is Tuesday, April 26. Application and interview must be completed prior to the class.

For more information, call Betty Walleser, Hospice Hope Green Lake volunteer coordinator, at (920) 294-6220 (walleserb@agnesian.com). Other training sessions will be scheduled during the upcoming months in Fond du Lac. For future training dates, contact Jennifer Stephens, Hospice Hope Fond du Lac volunteer coordinator, at (920) 924-4662 (stephensj@agnesian.com).