More on Vigil Companion Programs

Last summer, Hospice and Caregiving blog contributor Vince Chiles wrote about the vigil companion program, "No One Dies Alone ." Yesterday, Advance Nursing magazine featured an article on the program , including an interview with it's founder, Sandra Clarke, RN, a nursing supervisor at Sacred Heart Medical Center University District, Eugene, OR. Ms. Clarke started the program in 2001, and it has since been adopted by hospitals around the country.

Jennifer Gentry, APRN-BC, PCM, a nurse with the Palliative Care Team at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, is one of many nurses who support the NODA program at her facility.

"It's very distressing to nurses when there's no one to be with their dying patients, so this type of program is very welcome on the nursing units," she said. "As a palliative care referral center, we care for so many patients whose families just can't be there at the bedside. The NODA program allows us to reassure those family members that someone will be with their loved one when the end is near."

Gentry provides some of the training that prepares NODA volunteers for events that occur at the end of life.

"Some of the volunteers are Duke University students and others have had personal experiences with someone they love dying from cancer or other causes," she said. "The majority are lay people without a healthcare background. I teach them about the physical things they might hear, feel or see at the patient's bedside, letting them know what's normal and what they should get the nurse for. It's a lot for lay volunteers to get used to the culture of the hospital, as well as the issues around death and dying."