Return to Main Menu

MUSC Gives Back Award Student values volunteering, hospice care by Cindy Abole Public Relations Fourth-year nursing student Lynn Anglin has a heart for people who are living their final months of life. About 15 years ago, she decided to undergo hospice volunteer training after the devastating loss of a friend to colon cancer.  The experience hit so close to home that Anglin wanted to understand and explore more about end-of-life care. She was also intrigued about the death and dying experience and its effects on the lives of both patient and family. Her compassion and genuine interest eventually led her to volunteering with Hospice of Charleston. Anglin, who represents the College of Nursing, became one of six students honored with an MUSC Gives Back Outstanding Student Volunteer Award in recognition of their volunteer efforts  during the 2002-2003 school year.  After a year of volunteering, she was offered a job within the organization and worked for nine years with Hospice of Charleston, first as business manager and then director of development prior to pursuing her nursing degree. For several years, she helped to coordinate Hospice of Charleston’s Candlelight Memorial Ceremony to honor departed loved ones at Colonial Lake in Charleston.  “I’m a believer in the mission of Hospice of Charleston and love being part of the hospice team,” Anglin said, who came back to volunteering in 1999.  Hospice is a program that assists and supports people and their families during their final months of life. It helps people make the most of the time they have left together. The program’s most central philosophy is a focus on quality of life, not quantity of days, according to Anglin. Hospice is a team effort with a focus on symptom management and comfort care.  Hospice of Charleston has 60-70 staff members consisting of nurses, social workers and home health aides, plus 120-130 volunteers. Volunteers participate in many areas beyond patient and family care. They help with transportation, public relations, special events, maintenance, food pantry, etc.  “Lynn has a genuine interest in patients and their welfare,” said Carol Willis, director of community outreach for Hospice of Charleston. “It takes people who are comfortable with their own mortality to do this kind of work.” Like caregivers who have different roles, hospice volunteers provide invaluable support through friendship—someone safe to talk to, share memories with, share fears or regrets or sit quietly with them, Anglin said.  Anglin’s latest patient lived much longer than the six-month prognosis that is typical for hospice support. She visited her patient once or twice a week and would bring cut flowers from her yard.  “We would share stories about our families and about her life,” Anglin said. “She was an amazing woman with a loving family. I feel fortunate to have been part of her life at such a meaningful time.”  “Lynn possesses both compassion and a joy for living,” Willis said. “I know she’ll make a great nurse.”   Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.