Hospice care is support given as a person transitions through the dying process. My family and I received hospice care as my dad was dying. I am a hospice volunteer, and privileged to support families as their loved ones transition through the dying process. And I am a hospice nurse, deeply moved by the trust placed in me to help shepherd clients and their loved ones through what is a great, uncharted phase of life.

I am often asked how I can do hospice work. My answer is that in every way, giving hospice care is a privilege.

As a hospice volunteer, I am an extra set of eyes and ears for the hospice care team, and I support clients and their loved ones in many ways. I may be asked to drive a client to an appointment, read aloud or offer support by simply listening.

I was once asked to dust and vacuum a hospice client's home. I was asked to do so because the client had always kept a very tidy home, with many lovely things. Friends and family could have done those simple chores. Instead, my volunteering -- cleaning house once per week -- allowed them to spend their time being in each moment with their loved one.

Another time I was called to be with a family in the hospital. The family was new to the area and had few local friends. So I sat with them through their loved one's final, gentle breaths. It was after those two very different, equally important experiences that I realized what an awesome privilege it is to be a hospice volunteer.

In a place like Homer, where so many have family members who are far away, the importance of hospice wvolunteers cannot be overstated.

As a hospice volunteer you are trained to know the phases of the grieving and dying processes and how to be supportive through them. As a volunteer you are not alone, but are supported by the hospice staff.

When I am with another who is grieving the coming or recent death of a love one, I think about how good it felt to be supported in those final days when my dad was dying. Our hospice workers then were like angels. I can't even remember all that they did, but they were there and their presence mattered to us.

I know that every time I come into a new hospice situation, no matter how hopeful or bleak, I will be helpful by simply being there.

And, if I'm lucky I might even get to be an angel.

I believe hospice work is a calling that can come to anyone. To hear the call, we must be able to embrace our own feelings about death, and to face and feel sadness without being consumed by it. The Hospice of Homer volunteer training gives just such preparation.

Please call Hospice of Homer (235-6899) and sign up for its volunteer training in early October.

Lisa Zatz is a hospice nurse and a Hospice of Homer volunteer. She has worked and volunteered in three hospices located in California and Alaska. For her, Homer is a "little gem," in which "the work the volunteers do is made more special by the extra need for it in this somewhat remote location."