During Phyllis Horner’s 40-year nursing career with Aultman, she saw impressive improvements in healthcare. One area in particular stood out: developments in hospice care, leading to new ways of helping patients and their families feel cared for and supported during the final stages of life.

Compassionate Care

When the Aultman Women’s Board Compassionate Care Center opened in 2011, Phyllis was impressed with the center’s philosophy and welcoming atmosphere. As Stark County’s only free-standing inpatient hospice facility, the Compassionate Care Center serves both patients and their families.

The hospice care team ensures that patients feel as comfortable as possible as they approach the end of their life. Families can visit around the clock. Homelike touches for families – such soup and cookies, a dining area, a full bathroom and shower – help them stay by their loved one’s side as much as they wish. A Grief Services counselor, chaplain and staff are available to patients and families.

Phyllis would have loved to join the nursing staff there, but it didn’t fit with her career at the time. After she retired, her dream of caring for people at the Compassionate Care Center became reality when she applied in 2019 to be a volunteer with Aultman Hospice and Palliative Care.

Helping Others Cope

In her volunteer role, Phyllis chats with families and helps the staff at the Compassionate Care Center with any needed tasks such as setting up food trays or turning a patient. She also has assisted with home hospice patients.

What Phyllis likes most about volunteering is making a difference for the staff, patients and families. “Many families appreciate the opportunity to talk,” she said. “They are grieving and find it comforting to have someone to talk to.”

Phyllis’ own experiences help her understand what grieving families are going through. When her three sons were very young, Phyllis lost her mother, father and husband within a short period of time.

She raised her children while working full time at Aultman, commuting to the Canton area from Bolivar. Her church family, other family members and friends and her faith in God kept her going even during the tough times.

People often ask her why she chose to volunteer in hospice care. She traces it back to a revelatory moment at a nursing conference. “Two hospice nurses spoke, and one of them said, ‘I look at myself as a birth coach at the other end of life,’” Phyllis said. “I wanted to do that for people. Hospice helps keep you comfortable and live the best life possible for the time you have left.”

The Influence of Family

“I got my desire to help others from my dad,” she said. “I’m the youngest of nine children, and he taught us all to serve others.”

Phyllis’ ambition to be a nurse started at a young age, as well. When she was in fourth grade, she was admitted to the hospital to have her appendix removed. “A nurse made me eat liver and onions while I was recovering,” she said. “I decided to become a nurse and not make people eat things they didn’t want to eat.”

Outside of volunteering, Phyllis enjoys working in the yard, cultivating her flower beds and volunteering with her church. She travels often to Tennessee, California and North Africa to visit with her children and grandchildren.

After raising three sons as a single parent, she’s enjoying the opportunity to have fun with her family in retirement. And her volunteer roles allow her to continue making a difference for others.

“None of us wants to die, but it’s a part of life,” she said. “I serve in hospice because I can help people through a difficult time in their life.”

If you have a compassionate heart and a giving spirit, volunteering at Aultman Hospice may be the perfect fit for you. The Aultman Hospice Alliance and Canton locations are seeking volunteers. Volunteers must attend three training sessions, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 22, 23 and 24, 2024, at the Compassionate Care Center in Canton.

For more information, visit aultman.org/HospiceVolunteer. Email mia.jones@aultman.com to sign up.