Name: Joe McCauley How long have you been a volunteer? Three years. What areas do you work in/what sort of tasks do you do as a volunteer? Patient care in home care and nursing homes. What made you decide to become a volunteer? I had some extra time on my hands after I retired, and my mother was a nurse and my wife was a nurse, and I was a mailman so I’m a service-oriented type of person, and I thought that perhaps I would be of some comfort to some people. So I thought I would look into this and that’s what I did. Why Angela Hospice? I just happened to be around here, it’s in the area. My wife actually worked for Trinity and she wondered, “Why did you go to Angela’s instead of us?” (laughs) Angela’s was what was available at the time so I went over here. What is your favorite part about volunteering? To have given some comfort to some patients or their families. So much of it depends on the circumstances too. Some people you have more of a rapport wit...

Name: Paula Schrock-Bending, Care Center Nurse How long have you worked here? I answered an ad in the paper in 1994 for a CNA. I had done patient care my whole life but I wanted to do something alongside going to nursing school. So I came over and trained with staff and went through all the shifts. As a nurse when I graduated in 1997, there wasn’t a position for a RN, so I waited patiently and then I came on board in 2000 as a RN. So 16 years. What made you decide to work here? I answered the ad primarily because a Felician Sister, who was my lab partner in a chemistry course at Madonna, said, “Paula you need to go into that hospice field. Sister Giovanni has just opened up a Care Center and you need to go.” I said, “No, I don’t know if I want to do that,” because death and dying to me was very scary. I wanted to work with the geriatric clientele but I didn’t want to do it at the end stage. But then I decided, OK, why not? I was pleasantly surprised working for Ange...

Name: Bonnie Morris, RN Case Manager How long have you worked here? 18 years. What made you decide to work here? I liked home care but when [Angela Hospice] came and took care of my family I saw a new aspect of nursing that I thought might be very interesting. So I tried it and it was a good fit, and it has been for 18 years. How had you heard of Angela Hospice? Through them coming to take care of my dad. What’s a typical day like for you? I get up and do a little charting, manage my cases, make phone calls. Then I go out and do my visits. Then I come home and chart whatever I need to finish up, make phone calls to make patients’ day go better. That’s pretty much it. Bonnie is constantly on the move to see patients. What is your favorite part about working at Angela Hospice? Working with the patients. I thought about going into management but I enjoy the patients just that much that I wanted to stay doing that. What is one of your favorite memories from your tim...

For volunteer Barbara Wolk picking an area to volunteer in at Angela Hospice was an easy and quick decision. “As soon as we got to the Bereavement Department class during training, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she said. Barbara, or Babs as she’s more commonly known around the halls of Angela Hospice, has been volunteering in bereavement for the last seven years, where she assists with grief support groups, helps with memorial services for Angela Hospice patients, and visits patient families at funeral homes. So what made her know instantly this was the area for her? Her mom. “I remember when we lost my brother 40 years ago and my mom should have…she needed help and there was nothing to help her,” Babs said. “If there was anything out there she didn’t want it. “She needed someone like Angela Hospice that would show her that her grief was normal,” she continued. Now Babs gets to help people going through something similar by working at the support grou...