No One Dies Alone
No one is born alone and, in the best of circumstances, no one dies alone. Yet from time to time, adult, terminally ill patients come to OHSU who have neither family nor close friends to be with them as they near the end of life.
No One Dies Alone is a volunteer program that provides the reassuring presence of a volunteer companion to dying patients who would otherwise be alone. With the support of the nursing staff, companions are thus able to help provide patients with that most valuable of human gifts: a caring presence during the time of a natural death.
Who May Help
All OHSU employees, students and volunteers are invited to participate in No One Dies Alone. Companions may sign up to be available during one or more days of their choosing. Some volunteers choose to serve on the anniversary of the death of a loved one. Others simply choose a day or days that are convenient for them. To provide coverage, a team of volunteers will be on call each week, ready to serve at the bedside.
Getting Started
To sign up, contact the Volunteer Office at (503) 494-3717 for current orientation times. You may also download a volunteer application form at www.ohsu.edu/volserv.
All companions must first take part in an orientation session where they will learn the simple art of being compassionately present at the bedside of a dying person.
Once the nursing staff has identified a patient in need of an end-of-life companion, a phone coordinator will check the No One Dies Alone database to activate that week’s volunteer team.
How To Help
No nursing skill is necessary. Companions should be willing to hold the hand of the patient, play music, read to the patient, fluff pillows, and assist in comfort care measures as requested by the patient or directed by the nurse. Nurses or other health care professionals who volunteer for No One Dies Alone will not provide actual nursing care during the vigil but will assist only as a companion.
A companion supply bag containing a CD player and CDs and other helpful items is available for volunteers to pickup on their way to their vigil with a patient.