Kind. Compassionate. Caring.

That’s how Rosemary Pinneo describes those who are volunteers for Franciscan Hospice.

Pinneo is the volunteer coordinator for Harrison Support Services, an affiliate of CHI Franciscan Health. For more than 17 years, she’s been in charge of finding and helping to train volunteers who want to help patients during the last months of their lives. While most of her work has been in Pierce and King counties, the past five years, Franciscan Hospice has been serving Kitsap County.

And with the affiliation a year ago of Harrison Medical Center with CHI Franciscan Health, Pinneo has seen the need for Hospice volunteers in Kitsap County grow.

“Currently we have 30 to 40 patients who need Hospice care, and we only have about five volunteers,” Pinneo said. “We’re working hard to get the word out.”

Pinneo said that patients generally are referred to Hospice care from their doctor or health care professional. There are other Hospice services in Kitsap County, but with the Harrison connection, more patients are being referred to Franciscan Hospice.

She’s scheduled a volunteer training for June 26 to 28 in Bremerton, and is hoping to have a full house.

What’s needed to be a Hospice volunteer?

“Someone kind and compassionate and caring,” Pinneo said. “Someone who can listen and who is comfortable being with a person in the last months of their life.”

Many times volunteers will be with a patient so that their regular caregiver can have a half-day off to take care of errands, complete paperwork and pay bills, or just “get their hair done,” she said. Volunteers usually give four hours a week and can commit to staying a volunteer for a year.

Volunteers take patients out if they are able, to movies, shopping, on a drive, or out to eat. When patients can no longer go out, the volunteers play video games or card games with them, read to them, help them with art projects, or just listen to them.

Franciscan Hospice also has a program called “Story Catching,” in which volunteers record patients’ life stories in their own voices on CD and then give the CD to a family member.

“They capture their life experiences for the family to have,” she said. “It’s one of the projects that our Hospice volunteers really like to do.”

Great care is taken, Pinneo said, when matching volunteers to patients.

“Throughout the training process, I ask potential volunteers a lot about themselves,” she said. “And I try to find a connection that will fit with the patients who are needing care.”

An example, she said, was a volunteer who mentioned she was from North Dakota.

“We had a patient who grew up in North Dakota who needed care,” she said. “The match worked perfectly.”

And the program tries to match military veterans with other veterans.

“We have found that veterans can relate to each other,” she said. “But we have a great need for more volunteers who are veterans.”

In the training, which last two full days and one half day, potential volunteers learn about infection control, how to assist patients when moving them or helping them in and out of chairs, looking inside to the emotions that come up when dealing with death, how to deal with grief and how much to give and how much not to give.

All volunteers complete applications and undergo a background check and supply references who are contacted. They also sign a service agreement and a confidentiality agreement.

Some of the current Franciscan Hospice volunteers in Pierce County have been with the program since Pinneo joined, 17 years ago, she said.

“And about 15 percent of our volunteers have been with us for 10 years or more,” she added.

She became volunteer coordinator after coming to volunteer and then learning that there was a paid position that fit her skill set. She previously worked for the federal government.

While most of the volunteers help patients in their homes, Hospice is also available in nursing homes and hospitals. Pinneo said most insurance companies and Medicare pay for Hospice services which can include a social worker and nursing services. Volunteers fill the gaps by providing companionship.

Because Franciscan is “mission driven” to help the poor, there are services available to those who can’t pay, or who are not yet 65 and eligible for Medicare, Pinneo said.

Hospice also includes bereavement services for family members after their loved one passes. Hospice is available for patients with any life-limiting illness, not just cancer.

“Cancer patients are less than 50 percent of who we serve,” she said. “Many times is people with pulmonary or lung disease or heart problems.”

And, she said, sometimes patients in Hospice care rebound and live on.

“What’s important is that, while Hospice is designed for the last six months of someone’s life, patients and families contact us for help when they need it,” she said. “Sometimes they wait too long.”

While most volunteers want to work directly with patients, there are other roles for Hospice volunteers. Administrative roles, working at special events, mentoring student volunteers and creating Remembrance Hearts given to families are among the other offerings.

“Volunteers come from all backgrounds,” she said. “But they have in common the desire to be of service, to make a difference, to do something meaningful.”

To volunteer, call Pinneo at 360-744-6994.