Called to Serve

Patricia Watson, our new volunteer, recently shared that she had a spiritual calling to help with hospice. “Actually what happened was I was having a massage because I had a kink in my shoulder, and I was on the table not thinking about anything at all. And suddenly I heard a voice, what I now understand was the voice of the Holy Spirit, say to me ‘join hospice.’ I stopped, and looked around and thought ‘what the heck is going on.’ I had never thought about being a hospice volunteer before that time. During this time I lived in Michigan. So I looked up a local hospice agency, I went through their program, and I started volunteering.”

“I had my first patient, and she was an Alzheimer’s patient. I would sit with her and sit with her family. After my stretch with her, I was preparing to leave for South Carolina. Because of my spiritual calling and because I enjoyed my time with my patient, once I got settled in my apartment, I started looking up hospices.”

According to Patricia, working for hospice is humbling. “I feel I needed to be humbled. I have never been over the top by any means, but I feel as though it helps you appreciate the gifts that you have, the blessings you have already. And I have this forever need to give back. Whether it is baking, volunteering, buying random gifts for strangers, whatever it is I enjoy seeing people smile. And I need nothing in return. If I can make someone smile, it illuminates my own heart.”

“I have never had a hospice experience, although I lost my mother and my dad several years ago. It was very significant. And about a year and a half ago, I lost my dog. My buddy,” said Patricia. “No one in my experience was in hospice, which is why this calling, this message was so strange. I knew what hospice was, but that was all. If the Lord is willing, I would like to become a clinical counselor. I am retired, but I would like to help families with the grief process.”

Patricia is interested in reading to patients or playing checkers as a patient companion. If you are interested in volunteering for Hospice & Community Care, please call our Volunteer Department at 803-329-1500, or email her at sdunning@hospicecommunitycare.org.