LEWISTON – Individuals interested in making a lasting difference in the lives of others are being sought by Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice to become hospice volunteers for terminally ill patients or bereavement volunteers for adults or children. Training classes will be offered this winter.

Bereavement volunteer training is a 15-hour course that will begin Tuesday, Feb. 5, and will be held from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the agency’s Lewiston office, 15 Strawberry Ave.

The course prepares volunteers to provide grieving support, including one-to-one visits and telephone support, for loved ones and family members in the year following the death of a hospice patient.

The training will be facilitated by AHCH Hospice Bereavement Supervisor Jim Douglas. The course curriculum is comprehensive, exploring grief through group discussions, readings and individual and group activities.

Training topics include hospice philosophy, understanding the issues surrounding grief, recognizing normal and complicated grief, listening skills and companioning.

“It is a sad fact that many who suffer the death of a loved one don’t want to burden others with their feelings of grief. Bereavement volunteers and grief groups make it possible for grieving family and friends of our hospice patients to comfortably share their feelings with trained volunteers who understand their needs,” said Douglas.

Hospice volunteer training is a 27-hour course to be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, beginning Jan. 28, at the Lewiston office.

Participants will discover the world of hospice and how to support terminally ill patients and their families through discussion, guest speakers and skill-strengthening activities.

The course explores a range of topics, including hospice philosophy, pain management, communication, spirituality, grief and bereavement and the role of hospice volunteers.

Hospice volunteers are matched with patients living at home, in long-term care facilities and at the Hospice House in Auburn. Volunteers often provide companionship or may stay with the patient for several hours while a caregiver gets time away from the home.

They may also do errands if requested or meet other special needs. “Sometimes the need is for someone to just be present, to sit quietly, and simply ‘be’ with the patient,” said Nancy Greene, AHCH’s volunteer supervisor.

The Program for Grieving Children and Teens, co-sponsored by Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and Franklin Community Health Network, provides non-therapeutic, peer-to-peer support for families who have lost a loved one to death.

Training for volunteers will begin Monday, Jan. 14. It includes two Saturday sessions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 19 and 26 and five evening sessions from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 14, 16, 21, 23 and 28. Classes will be held at the Lewiston office.

The training is designed to prepare interested participants in the art of volunteer work with grieving children and their families. The course explores a wide range of topics, including the understanding of grief and its stages, how individuals of varying ages process grief, the use of age-appropriate activities in groups and the safe expression of anger and other emotions.

Volunteer opportunities include co-facilitating groups for children or adults, greeting or interviewing families, community outreach and office support.

AHCH is a nonprofit Medicare-certified agency that annually provides comprehensive hospice care to more than 1,200 residents of central and western Maine through its local offices in Lewiston, Bridgton, Dixfield, Oxford and Wilton.

It specializes in hospice care for residents of long-term care facilities, as well as those living in their own homes. In November 2005, AHCH opened a new 14-bed Hospice House in Auburn, designed to meet the end-of-life care needs for patients who can no longer be cared for at home. For more information, visit www.AHCH.org.