By Nate McDonald

Hospice volunteers by the very nature of their service are there until the end. One volunteer has been with the program from the beginning, however. Donna Berrigan is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Oswego County Hospice volunteer program as well as her own time with hospice.

Berrigan graduated from the first class of hospice volunteers in 1989, and was instrumental in bringing hospice services to Oswego County.

“My late husband had family members around the country who were involved with hospice. When he was diagnosed as terminally ill he wanted to be home,” Berrigan said. “We lived in New Haven there was no hospice in this county and we were too far from Onondaga County to have their services up here. So, my husband said ‘somebody ought to do something about this.’”

The county Legislature was supportive, and then director of the health department, Kathy Smith, began the process with Albany to bring a hospice program to Oswego County.

“When they did get the okay around two years later, the health department advertised a volunteer training program and I signed right up,” Berrigan said.

Though the faces have changed since the program’s inception two decades ago, hospice’s mission statement and philosophy remain the same: to provide end of life care and to support both the patient and the family.
Berrigan does not deny that volunteering can be emotionally draining, but still describes being invited into people’s homes as nothing short of a privilege.

“Each time is a new beginning; no family is the same. I don’t think we burn out because of the support we receive from people that work here. We have meetings and we have a sharing time to talk about some of the cases,” she said. “We try to have a little humor sometimes, and it’s the patient that will usually get you in stitches. Maybe because they accept it more than the people around them.”

It is that acceptance that oftentimes proves to be the greatest struggle for a patient’s family. “It starts right when the doctor says ‘we can’t do any more,’” Berrigan said. “ We try to be as much for the caregiver as the patient. Sometimes, when the end is close, families physically can’t stand what is happening and have to leave. It’s that stepping over the threshold. The patient has to take that step by themselves, but we’re not going to leave them to do it alone.”

Berrigan said that death can often prove be a relief of sorts to family members. “Once a family member has been through it, it’s often peaceful and they can say ‘I’m relieved it happened, and that it was beautiful,’” she said. “They really do say that. In your wildest dreams, you never thought you’d hear anything like that about death. What’s beautiful about death? Yet part of one faith’s prayers is praying for a happy death. At first it makes no sense, but you understand what that really means when you see that release.”

Volunteering may not be for everyone at first, though. “You have to be a listener, and you have to leave a part of yourself at the door. Until you really get there and meet everyone, you can’t have preconceived ideas about things, Berrigan said. “Not everyone is suited to do this, and you kind of work your way into it and find that maybe you can do it and can help.”

Dawn Leduc, community/volunteer support coordinator, described the reward faithful volunteers like Berrigan receive for their service. “Our volunteers are very giving and very passionate. They give so much, but a lot of families don’t understand what the volunteers get back for all of that,” Leduc said.

“It’s just such a gift for volunteers to be welcomed into a family’s home. Donna has said many times that it’s a privilege, and anyone who is a volunteer will tell you that it goes beyond words sometimes. It’s a feeling, and a caring, and something you want to do for them.”

A sense of humor goes a long way in this field, according to Berrigan. “It’s a big thing for us. I went to some of the conventions and regional seminars for hospice and there would always be entertainment that had really dark humor, and everyone laughed because it’s true,” she said. “The office support helps greatly. It’s really a team effort. A volunteer isn’t put out there on their own.”

The best part of volunteering for Berrigan is the bond of friendship that forms between a volunteer and the families they support. I’m still friends with so many of the families I’ve met through the program,” she said. “We still go to each other’s birthday parties and graduations – things like that.”

If anything, though, Berrigan said it is not about her, or individual volunteers. “This isn’t really about me at all. I just happen to have been at it for a long time. I’m just an ordinary person,” she said. “It’s about what we can accomplish with this program. All of a sudden you’re faced with it, and there it is: you have to step up.”
Perhaps Berrigan’s work – and the work of all hospice volunteers – can be best described as ordinary people making an extraordinary impact in the lives of those they share a community with.