Imagine how helpful it would be if someone delivered your medications right to your door; or if someone could stop and visit your loved one when you couldn’t be there.  Harbor Hospice volunteers do all that – and so much more.

All Harbor Hospice volunteers go through a comprehensive training.  During the training, they see the many ways that volunteer help is used throughout the organization.  Trained volunteers are then given the opportunity to choose how they would like to help.  Our volunteers provide countless talents, skills and helping hands.

The ‘basic’ training requires a study course on hospice related topics provided in book format, which potential volunteers may take home to study.

Interested in becoming a Harbor Hospice Volunteer?

Volunteer Training

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Harbor Hospice and meet the requirements detailed below, you will receive training followed by ongoing education throughout the year. Depending on how you’d like to serve, we’ll be sure your training will support your success in your particular volunteer role.

Volunteer Requirements

Before submitting your volunteer application, please take a moment to consider whether volunteering with Harbor Hospice is right for you:

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid require that all hospice volunteers are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with booster or have an approved medical or religious exemption.
• Volunteers are asked to commit at least one year of service to Harbor Hospice. Continuity of care is important to our patients and families; therefore our volunteer opportunities are considered long-term, and not suited for those looking for temporary or summer-only volunteering.
• Because our patients reside throughout Mason, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, and Ottawa counties, our volunteer opportunities are best suited to those with their own transportation. We cannot guarantee that volunteer opportunities will be available on a bus route that works for you.
• Our volunteer opportunities are best for those with morning and afternoon availability, as that is when patients and families are most in need of visitors.
• All volunteers are required to complete a general volunteer orientation course, which can be accessed online from home at your convenience.
• All volunteers providing support to our patients are required to complete Patient Care Training with a clinical staff member. (In order to attend Patient Care Training, you will need to have completed the General Volunteer Orientation Course)
• All volunteers providing support for our patients are required to have t-spot testing to meet compliance requirements.
• The State of Michigan Department of Community Health requires criminal background checks for hospice volunteers, and that all volunteers are fingerprinted.

To honor the grieving process, volunteers are asked to wait a year after the death of a loved one before becoming a Harbor Hospice volunteer.

For more information on volunteering, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator at 231.728.3442 or 1.800.497.9559 or contact us through our message system.

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