Volunteerism thrives at Laguna hospice; ‘young blood’ needed

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—As one hospice volunteer puts it: “18 (years) means you’ve (truly) aged, … ready to get married, so to speak.”

The Madre de Amor Hospice Foundation Inc., a community-based institution that cares for cancer patients in Laguna, celebrated its 18th anniversary last month with volunteers sharing their thoughts about their work.

Most of them have had loved ones who succumbed to cancer or they themselves were cancer survivors, including its current president and one of the founding members, Dr. Fermin Adriano.

The hospice’s founding date is actually Aug. 19, 1993, Adriano said. It was the day his 14-year-old daughter Sarah died of nasopharyngeal cancer.

Fulfillment

“Most of our volunteers are now getting old,” Adriano said, referring to the more than 40 volunteers, mostly 65 years old and above. Old age, however, doesn’t hinder them from doing their work.

Benefrida Bawagan, 81, the oldest in the group, has been with the hospice for the past 15 years. “I was introduced to the hospice when they first visited my husband who then had a stroke,” she said.

Even as she took care of her ailing husband at home, Bawagan found time to join the other volunteers when they visited dying people in Los Baños and in the nearby towns.

“We talked and listened to (the dying). I would tell them that my husband too was sick and what we did was to pray together,” she said. When she returned home to her husband, she said, “I would share to him stories about the patients we visited.”

Even after her husband died, Bawagan continued working at the hospice. “My children wanted me to just stay at home but I tell them that this gives me self-fulfillment,” she said.

At her age, she said she would still tread slippery rice paddies or walk along rail tracks, “although very slowly,” to bring a bit of comfort to the dying patients.

“I feel like I’m being guided anyway. Whenever I step out of the house, people, like the tricycle drivers, help me get a ride or cross the street,” she said.

Best service to God

“Away from the maddening (jobs) and (with no more) deadlines to meet, oh sweet stage of retirement,” said Teresita Gonzales, 72, one of the founding members who now sits in the board of directors. She is a breast cancer survivor.

“But being a hospice volunteer offers the best service to God through the dying,” Gonzales said. “And that’s the best essence of retirement.”

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, a friend of Adriano’s, opened the simple gathering during the anniversary celebration with a message about volunteerism.

“I am taking off my hat to the volunteers who selflessly and effortlessly give their time and much love to the patients. The greatest mover here is the spirit of volunteerism and love for neighbors,” Soliman said.

Adriano said the foundation, which sprouted in a quiet neighborhood in Los Baños, has volunteers working all over Laguna. But he said it needed “young blood” with the emotional and psychological stability to carry on the cause of caring for the sick and the dying.

That cause, he said, is bringing “hope when there’s none.”