Teens with Heart for Hospice, a volunteer program of Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, recently completed its first training. The volunteers, all students at Edward Little High School, gathered at the Hospice House. In back from left are Faith Parker, Danielle Dubois, Destiny Lizotte and Lacey Anderson; front, Anne Behnke, volunteer teen coordinator, Brenna Rasmussen and Tyler Noyes.

Hospice program graduates first class of teen volunteers

LEWISTON – Teens with Heart for Hospice has “graduated” six teens in a new hospice volunteer program sponsored by Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice.

The teens received 18 hours of hospice training and are ready to volunteer in area nursing homes and the Hospice House. Topics covered in class included listening skills, the philosophy and art of hospice, family dynamics, life review and spirituality.

Nancy Greene, AHCH volunteer coordinator, and Anne Behnke, hospice volunteer and teen coordinator, led the training sessions.

Behnke said, “The teens are excited and ready to go. They are enthusiastic, and with their new skills they hope to make a difference in the lives of hospice patients and their families.”

Teens with Heart for Hospice plans more training sessions in the future. For more information, contact Greene at 777-7740.

The nonprofit Medicare-certified agency annually provides comprehensive hospice care to more than 1,000 residents of central and western Maine through its local offices in Lewiston, Bridgton, Oxford and Wilton.

The agency 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 on AHCH, visit www.AHCH.org.