A large number of volunteers in Germany work in the field of hospice and palliative care. As part of the civil society why are they doing this? What motivates them to care for seriously ill and dying people? What is the situation in other countries? How do caring communities in India work, how do volunteers work in Uganda? How is volunteering changing? What challenges and opportunities lie ahead in other countries for example. in Serbia, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, France, UK, Belgium and Germany?
Initiated also by the German Association for Palliative Medicine an international symposium "Volunteers at the heart of Hospice and Palliative Care" took place on May 25th in Berlin, at the ESTREL Congress Centre.
The heart of the meeting was networking, sharing experiences and approaches and listening to one another. Volunteers in the field of hospice and palliative care, coordinators/leaders of volunteer hospice teams, managers of hospice organisations & associations, trainers and supervisors of hospice volunteers have participated.
We are very grateful for the generous support by the German Ministry of Family Affairs, Youth, Elderly and Women which made free participation possible!
Thank you all: The German Association for Palliative Medicine, the German Hospice and Palliative Care Association, Hospice Austria and the EAPC Task Force on Volunteering.
Illustration "Brandenburger Tor" designed by freepik.