Volunteer in hospice care
Provide comfort and support to patients and families receiving care from Hospice of the Central Coast, part of Montage Health. You’ll play a key role in a team offering personalized end-of-life care in your community.
Training and education
Before you start volunteering, you’ll complete a general orientation and a short hospice-specific orientation to:
- Understand hospice care, and our philosophy
- Meet our team
- Learn how to offer grief support
- Identify what’s important to patients
- Build listening and communication skills
- Determine when you’re ready to volunteer
Throughout your time as a volunteer, you’ll receive ongoing support and education from staff, volunteer mentors, and a variety of community experts.
Volunteer opportunities
After the general training session, choose to volunteer in the area that’s closest to your heart:
- Bereavement services – Give one-on-one support to patients and families, make bereavement phone calls and visits, and, with additional training, facilitate grief support groups
- Friendly visitor – Visit patients in their homes or nursing facilities to offer companionship, play music, or read with patients expected to live one year or less
- Veteran's services- Help honor our Veterans and support them as they near the end of their lives
Ask us about other services you may have credentials in.
Opportunities with specialized training
Tell us if you’re interested in one of these volunteer areas that require additional training:
- Bereavement group facilitation – Work in pairs to lead support groups with guidance from professional staff
- Vigil service – Sit by a patient’s bedside or hold a vigil in the last 24 to 48 hours of life
- Volunteer Chaplains – Provide spiritual support to patients and families as they near the end of their lives
Apply to become a Hospice volunteer
Please note on your application form that you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Hospice of the Central Coast.
Apply here
If you have questions, call (831) 649-7750.
