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NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK - Volunteer honoured to be sharing on the dementia journey
Gail’s visits to see her parents in Penticton aren’t what they used to be. She makes meals and does housework for her elderly father, comforting him through his feelings of grief and guilt. She visits the nursing home where her mother lives to help feed and spend time with her.
It was five years ago when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease that Gail began attending educational sessions provided by the Alzheimer Society of B.C. and she has volunteered as a facilitator for an Early Onset Caregiver Group in Coquitlam for a year. Despite the challenges she faces as a long distance caregiver balancing a full-time job, family, and other volunteer work, Gail devotes time to helping others because she believes in the value of education and learning on the dementia journey.
“I attended classes and then shared what I learned with my family. I think they were better able to understand the progression of the disease and navigate the health care system,” she said. “I was able to gently help my father come to realize there is strength in knowledge of the disease and in sharing.”
Having completed a peer counseling certificate program at UBC, she felt that volunteering as a facilitator with the Alzheimer Society of B.C. would be a good way to use her skills. But it was the fact that her family was struggling each in their own way to handle the impact of dementia on their family that really made her want to volunteer and support other families.
“I watch families get so much out of the safe environment at group and the sharing of their stories,” explains Gail. “I always feel it is an honour to be there and share a few hours with them. I live far away from my own family so volunteering as a facilitator helps me feel closer to my own family’s daily experience with the progression of the disease. This is the authentic side of life and it gives my life more meaning. The caregivers are a true inspiration to me.”
The Society provides free education and training for volunteer facilitators of its support groups, an integral part of the service it delivers to families in communities across British Columbia.
There are a variety of volunteer opportunities at the Society, including helping to coordinate and deliver key programs such as First Link®, to taking a leadership role in a local community for events such as the Investors Group Walk for Memories, or helping the Provincial Office staff to support the Society’s province-wide network.
If you have time and energy to contribute and would like to know more about volunteering with us, review current volunteer job postings or contact Jo-Anne Teal, HR and Volunteer Administrator at 604-742-4924 in Vancouver or 1-800-667-3742 elsewhere in B.C.
