ASSIGNMENTS:
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REPORTS:
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Spend an hour with someone who is dying or in the advanced stages of terminal illness. This can be some one who is close to you or a complete stranger. There are huge numbers of dying people who nobody visits, so it is not hard to visit with a stranger. Just look under "hospice" in the phone book, choose one of care centers near you, and ask to speak to the volunteer coordinator. When you are bedside you must make a commitment to saying and doing as little as possible and giving this person your utmost attention. Don't take any notes when you are sitting bedside. Pay attention to what you are seeing and sensing about this person and what you are feeling within yourself.
D O C U M E N T A T I O N >
For this project you are not required to report on your feelings, in fact you may want to decide ahead of time that you are not going to write a report, in order to free yourself from the reporter mentality. However, if you find that you are wanting to write about your experience when you get home, that is good too and please send this to us.
If you are going to help strangers we suggest contacting your local hospice organization first and sign up for volunteer training. Hospices welcome trained volunteers to be companions to those who need it. We also highly recommend the book Grace In Dying by Kathleen Singh to anyone who would like to know more about the journey of dying.
Required documentation: Your name, the name of the person you visited, the name of the place where you visited them and the date and time of your visit.
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