
DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710220216

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 18   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

HOSPICE CHANGES NAME, WIDENS MISSION

DARWIN ``PEE WEE'' Bales says he can chat with anyone, anywhere.

The 43-year-old Bales an electrician from Zuni, is going to bring his natural ability into a new ministry.

Already trained in first aid and fire fighting, Bales is among the first members of Believers Baptist Church in Chesapeake to sign up for a new interfaith volunteer program sponsored by the Hospice Volunteers of the Portsmouth Area, Inc.

The group, which will be renamed Volunteers for Hospice in Hampton Roads, Inc. this month, has provided non-medical support and care to families of terminally ill patients across South Hampton Roads for 14 years.

Dottie Reish, the group's executive director, said that the new name, Volunteers for Hospice in Hampton Roads, Inc., will more clearly reflect the scope of the volunteer effort that started in Portsmouth but has grown beyond the city's borders.

The Hospice Volunteers are broadening their outreach with a new interfaith volunteer program that will bring hospice training to volunteers within religious congregations.

The program will train church members in the most effective ways to provide support and assistance within their own congregation and their surrounding community to families who are coping with severe or terminal illness.

Volunteers will learn more about community resources, hospice care, listening and communication skills, death and bereavement, and providing respite care.

Seven congregations are part of the interfaith volunteer program: Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Chesapeake; Believers Baptist Church, Chesapeake; Church of The Resurrection, Portsmouth; Cypress Chapel Christian Church, Suffolk; Gomley Chesed Synagogue, Portsmouth; Green Acres Presbyterian Church, Portsmouth; and Westhaven Baptist Church, Portsmouth.

The interfaith volunteer program is being launched with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest private philanthropy that works to improve health care.

In November, Reisch will lead training sessions at the seven congregations. The sessions, which will be almost identical to those that are required training for secular hospice volunteers, will focus on people helping within their own community of faith.

``This new program combines the experience, skills, and hospice concepts of the Volunteers for Hospice in Hampton Roads with the volunteer resources of the local churches,'' Reisch said.

Bales said, ``With a congregation our size we have quite a few senior citizens and you never know what our needs will be. Hopefully this training will give me the ability to know what to do and how to do it to better minister to those needs.''

The Rev. Scott Ranck of Believers Baptist Church said that the interfaith volunteer program also fits well with his church's vision statement dealing with offering compassionate care.

``Being a real Christian means more than just delivering a tuna casserole,'' Ranck said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

TO VOLUNTEER

The Volunteers for Hospice in Hampton Roads will offer formal

training session for anyone interested in volunteering with their

agency.

For more information about the hospice volunteer training or about

the interfaith volunteer training, call Reisch at 757-398-2676, ext.

621.