In a collaboration between Hospice of Santa Barbara and Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care, the No One Dies Alone (NODA) program helps ensure those in our community who are dying, with no family or friends nearby, have someone with them during those final hours.
The partnership includes local residential facilities where many of these patients live. Trained volunteers bring comfort and compassion to people in their last 48-72 hours of life, and as the name of the program indicates, ensure No One Dies Alone.
“There are situations where someone is the last surviving member in their family, or lives across the country from friends and relatives,” said David Selberg, CEO of Hospice of Santa Barbara.
“We want to make sure that we are there with them in their final hours and we are grateful to partner with Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care for this sacred work,” he said.
When a person is facing their end-of-life journey, simply knowing someone is there with them can provide the comfort needed to find peace. The intent is to provide a healing presence to help the patient feel he or she has not been abandoned.
“Much of the work we do at Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care is to help our patients live well even as they face end of life,” said Lynda Tanner, president/CEO.
“For nearly 111 years, our mission has been to provide compassionate and trusted care, and sometimes simply being mindfully present in support of someone facing end of life fulfills the most immediate need,” she said.
It takes a special person to do this work. Sharing someone’s end of life experience can be moving and powerful. Dying is a journey each of us will take. Being present and being a part of a person’s journey is sacred work.
To be a calming presence and truly compassionate with another requires a large degree of personal and spiritual maturity, as well as a capacity for reflection on one’s lived experience.
Volunteers may choose to sit in silence with the patient, letting them know they are there from time to time with voice and/or touch. They may do simple things like placing a cool cloth on the patient’s forehead, using swabs if the person’s lips seem dry or chapped, holding the hand or arm as a loving presence.
Music, played softly, can calm and soothe, and may help a dying person let go of pain and unbind from the ties of this world.
Silence can be just as important as sound, however. There can be great value in holding silence, especially in the presence of the dying, whose journey is to leave this world of talk and noise.
Current NODA work takes place in personal homes and at the following locations: Sarah House, The Californian, Serenity House, Alexander Gardens & Villa Alamar, Heritage House, Buena Vista Care Center, Samarkand, and Alto Lucero.
Those interested in volunteering for NODA can visit www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org or call Hospice of Santa Barbara offices at 805-563-8820. All volunteers go through a rigorous training process.
For more about Hospice of Santa Barbara, call 805-563-8820 or visit www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org. For more about Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care, go to www.vnhcsb.org or call 805-965-5555.
— Andy Silverman for Hospice of Santa Barbara.