Namaste Hospice Partner Program

Summit Dharma Center is happy to announce an important partnership with a local hospice organization, Namaste Hospice, located in Denver. Namaste's philosophy is very open-hearted and inspiring. They believe that dying well, on one's own terms, is an ultimate success (something that we can all agree on!), and their program is set up to help patients define and carry out what that means to each individual.

Namaste welcomes volunteers--assistance is needed with patient care as well as general bereavement assistance, and Gen-la thinks this is excellent practice for any member of our community. The dates for volunteer training sessions are as follows:

Training:

• Thursday Feb 21 6 - 8 pm (2 hours)
• Saturday Feb 23 9a - 5p (8 hours)
• Saturday Mar 1 9a - 5p (8 hours)
• Two hour shadow experience (2 hours)
• Total: 20 hours

Lunch will be provided on the Saturdays, and snack on the Thursday. Their staff and support for volunteers has been rearranged and strengthened. The Community Engagement Department of Namaste will be headed by Jennfier White, and Richard will be one of two contacts for volunteers (as well as continuing his duties as Admissions Coordinator). There will also be a Program Coordinator who will recruit and train volunteers.

Interested people should read the short history of hospice and also Namaste's website for contact info and volunteer applications.

Richard, the coordinator at Namaste says that, "Some of you may desire to volunteer with patients directly (either in their homes or in facilities) or assist with administrative support, or do both. We will put you to work either way and strive to help us all maintain a healthy sense of humor as we provide a difficult service!"

Namaste works within a 50-mile radius of their office near Denver's City Park, which is obviously inconvenient for many or most of our mountain communities. Volunteering is often difficult to work into our tight schedules even if it's a block away. However, please consider Namaste's services in the case where you need patient hospice care, especially considering when people get sick they are advised to go to a lower elevation, and for Coloradoans, that often means Denver.

For more information, please contact Laura Menzer, our Namaste representative at lmenzer@earthlink.net.

We encourage everyone who is interested to learn more about this wonderful venture!