Hospice volunteer helps maintain life
After Wilma Engstrom, 69, retired as an operating room nurse seven years ago she immediately signed up to volunteer with Hospice of Spokane, hoping to use her nursing skills and give back to the community. “I couldn’t stop caregiving,” she said.
While Engstrom has maintained her nursing license so she can offer more services as a volunteer, she said it is a very different side of nursing than surgery.
“We made people well and sent them home. At this point I’m hoping to preserve the quality of life they have,” the Deep Creek/Medical Lake area resident said, adding that Hospice is about helping people live until they die, rather than helping them die.
Because families and lifestyles have different needs and dynamics, what Hospice does to help varies, so the role Engstrom plays varies too, and isn’t limited to volunteer nursing.
“She helps out with whatever needs to be done,” said Shari Williams, a Hospice staff social worker who would like Engstrom to help with all of her client families. “She is so open to meeting the needs of these people and their families. It doesn’t matter if it is a mansion or a hovel under a bridge; she sees needs and is so gracious providing for their needs.”
Sometimes Engstrom sits and reads or talks to patients while family caregivers get a needed break. Other times, she pitches in with housework or errands.
She has driven patients to doctor appointments and driven caregivers to the grocery store, doing her best to meet whatever needs arise.
Once she took a patient fishing two weeks before the client died because fishing was one of the patient’s joys.
“I’m not even a fisherman,” Engstrom said. “But it was a great day, a special time.” She took along a camera, snapping pictures of the client with her husband and a close friend during their six hours on Fishtrap Lake.
“It has made me realize that the end with family and friends is every bit as important as the entire rest of your life,” Engstrom said. “It’s often a time of mending fences, strengthening family relationships.”
Getting to volunteer with an organization that makes such a huge impact in people’s lives is something she will do as long as she is able, said Engstrom, noting that families often express thanks and gratitude for even the small things.
“It doesn’t take much to make or keep them happy. You get hooked on it … the smiles when you walk in the door, the hugs you get when you leave. Families are so appreciative.”
“Every time we hear that Wilma is on the scene, people gravitate to her,” Williams said. “When she walks into a home, they feel comforted. In a time of heightened tension, chaos, and intense feelings in the dying process, she brings serenity and comfort.”