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Nurturing relationships

It takes two volunteers to handle the mail for Hospice of Warren County

Times Observer photo by Stacey Gross Janet Denardi is the volunteer in charge of Bereavement Mailings. Inset, some of the mailings sent to family after the death of a loved one.

The mail plays a big part in Hospice of Warren County. So much so that two volunteers are needed to handle the incoming and outgoing mail.

Janet Denardi is a four-year veteran of the Bereavement Mailings program at Hospice≥ Denardi, like many of the current volunteers, was contacted by previous Executive Director Elsa Redding to see if she’d like to take over for a volunteer who was retiring.

“I’d told Elsa after my husband died,” said Denardi, “if there’s anything I can do to help you, let me know.” It’s not an uncommon offer. Many volunteers have been so pleased with the quality of services they received when a loved one was enrolled with Hospice that they have wanted to give back to the program in their own ways.

Families are given a post-death bereavement assessment, said Denardi, that evaluates their strengths and resources, as well as their stressors and risks. On that assessment, families can indicate whether they’d like to receive follow-up phone calls to check in on how they’re doing, and mailings for the year after their loved one passes away.

Mailings include cards that come on birthdays, anniversaries, the anniversary of the loved one’s death, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

“Most people really like them,” said Denardi. “I know I did. It was a nice feeling to know someone else was thinking about him.”

Monthly, Denardi said she makes out and mails around 25 to 30 cards to Hospice of Warren County families who’ve lost loved ones.

During the holidays, she said, she can wind up sending 150 to 170 in those months.

Denardi spends the last Wednesday of every month filling out and preparing cards to be sent. She spends, she said, around two-and-a-half hours on regular months, and four-and-a-half-to-five hours during holiday months doing it.

Denardi said what’s kept her at Bereavement Mailings for four years is that when she offered her help to Elsa back at the beginning, she really meant it.

Sally Ransom may well be one of the longest running Hospice of Warren County volunteers. Ransom processes donations for the agency, which may seem like a small thing but, according to Ransom, means a lot. Not just because, as she said, the agency “makes everyone feel like their job is important, and they really mean it.”

It’s because she believes in making the personal effort to thank those offering donations, regardless of the amount.

“We value every donation, no matter what the amount,” said Ransom. “Everyone deserves to get a response in 10 days.” That’s her goal, and she doesn’t miss it. Ransom usually comes every Wednesday, and spends an average of four hours a week processing donations — recording the donation, writing personal ‘thank you’ notes, securing addresses, and preparing acknowledgments to be mailed.

Ransom, according to HOWC office staff, has the fastest turn-around of any agency in town.

“Her weekly receipts are always returned within 10 days.”

Ransom began volunteering in 1991.

“Someone told me I should look into it and thought I’d really enjoy it. And it was good,” said Ransom. “I didn’t know anything about hospice when I started the training.” Ransom, who was a Psychiatric Aide at Warren State Hospital, said that she started providing bedside care but eventually wasn’t able to do that anymore. “I told them I needed something in the office and they put me here.”

Ransom said that she has some people who send donations each and every month, and a couple who come in regularly to bring donations and enjoy a bit of conversation with Ransom.

“It may be the only interaction they have with someone all day,” said Ransom.

And for some people, Ransom said, the donations they send in and the acknowledgments they get back are the only contact they ever have with Hospice of Warren County. It’s important, said Ransom, that they get speedy responses and hand-written thank you notes. It’s important that their experiences are positive, especially when they don’t have loved ones enrolled with the agency and may not have personally experienced the quality of service the agency provides, Ransom said.

“Over the years,” said Ransom, “you build a relationship with those people who send donations regularly,” said Ransom.

Nurturing and maintaining those relationships, she said, are both her duty and her joy.

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