Our dedicated volunteers bring their talents to all areas of our operations. In honor of National Volunteer Month, we are featuring a hospice volunteer.
“I often get the question if sitting with patients who are on hospice really depressing, and does it bring you down? And it's quite the opposite actually. You're invited to something that is so special and so important and so intimate."
In His Own Words: Edward Tcheleshev
“I came to volunteering, well, I was laid off from a long career in the tech field and went on a 30-day silent meditation retreat. And something in that retreat told me that I should become a hospice volunteer. One of the things that I was spending a lot of time thinking about was how my mom had passed. She passed 10 years prior on hospice and there was something about that process that really touched me, and I felt a calling and that's what brought me to start looking at how I could volunteer here locally in Napa. And I started to get involved and it's been an amazing experience for me.
When I go see a patient, the first thing I do is say a little prayer to just settle myself and know that I'm there to be a witness, to listen, and to be present. And that I just am so grateful that someone is allowing me to be in the space with them in such an important time. And there's this kind of "settling" that happens, and it doesn't happen every time, but it's like you become grounded and present, being able to listen to someone else in a way that not everyone gets to do in their daily lives.
If we could give that type of presence to each other more often, not just when sitting with someone who's contemplating their passing, that would be a marvelous thing. So that actually inspires me a lot, to be more present more in my own daily life.
I was very fearful when my mom passed, and it was almost that I knew that it was something special in that process, but I didn't quite understand it then. And when I started volunteering, when I met with my first patient, something about that experience kind of opened up for me. He was a 49-year-old patient, same age as me, and he had an external pacemaker, and he had this amazing view of the world. He only had a couple weeks to live at most, and it was during last year's "super bloom," and he recognized everything that was happening around him and he was present in a way that was just incredible for me to see and that brought me so much gratitude. I just learned so much from him.
I often get the question if sitting with patients who are on hospice really depressing, and does it bring you down? And it's quite the opposite actually. You're invited to something that is so special and so important and so intimate. It's opening up the process in which they're contemplating what happens next. No one really knows what that is. You get to be a part of that journey and you get to see what it looks like no matter whether it's beautiful or whether it's difficult, whether it's even in between.
If you're looking, there's something really special that happens in that process; something you see as a volunteer. And if you feel inspired, follow that feeling, and I think you'll be really happy."