TLDR: You should definitely at least try it for a while and see if you're a good fit.
I volunteered with hospice for a few months about 12 or so years ago. As a background, my mom and grandmother had both gone through hospice within a year before I signed up and I did it specifically because I thought it was such a helpful ministry. That said, I didn't really have the right personality to effectively be very helpful with the specific folks I ended up with.
More or less, I would sit with someone an hour or two a week, which is what I expected. What I didn't expect was how many folks were already nonverbal. Usually I was assigned these people because they were either estranged from family or the family wasn't close by. Many didn't really talk. Apparently, just being there is helpful, but I just didn't feel like I was doing a great job of being as warm as they needed when the person couldn't talk. Hospice is so valuable and I really hope that you find it to be a good fit. I can't say enough good things about it. I don't think I was an ideal volunteer there, but you may be!
Also, the training kind of blew my mind. I'm sure you'll have to do a lot of training as well. I didn't encounter any of this personally, but the training taught me that apparently if you do it long enough, you will encounter end of life experiences that you'd never expect (encouraging things, not bad stuff).
TLDR: You should definitely at least try it for a while and see if you're a good fit.
I volunteered with hospice for a few months about 12 or so years ago. As a background, my mom and grandmother had both gone through hospice within a year before I signed up and I did it specifically because I thought it was such a helpful ministry. That said, I didn't really have the right personality to effectively be very helpful with the specific folks I ended up with.
More or less, I would sit with someone an hour or two a week, which is what I expected. What I didn't expect was how many folks were already nonverbal. Usually I was assigned these people because they were either estranged from family or the family wasn't close by. Many didn't really talk. Apparently, just being there is helpful, but I just didn't feel like I was doing a great job of being as warm as they needed when the person couldn't talk. Hospice is so valuable and I really hope that you find it to be a good fit. I can't say enough good things about it. I don't think I was an ideal volunteer there, but you may be!
Also, the training kind of blew my mind. I'm sure you'll have to do a lot of training as well. I didn't encounter any of this personally, but the training taught me that apparently if you do it long enough, you will encounter end of life experiences that you'd never expect (encouraging things, not bad stuff).