By Mel Rubenstein
Contributing Writer
After hearing a number of people speak so highly of Hospice of CNY I inquired to see if the organization had a volunteer with exemplary service to be featured in this column. I soon received a reply from Michele Devlin, the Volunteer Coordinator, who gave me the name of Peter Garner-Richards, who had been volunteering there for 31 years. I said to myself, “Wow …31 years !” I was also excited because I knew Peter a number of years ago when I leased warehouse space for my business from him.
Peter Garner-Richards was born in London, England where he endured the terrible times of WWII. He remembers walking thru the debris from the German rocket attacks that pelted the area he lived in, and how his family, after being bombed out, moved to another house on the same street. After attending grade school and high school in London he went to a community college in Middlesex where he spent two years in the engineering program.
In 1958 a friend introduced Peter to his sister, Pat, and just a few months later Peter Garner-Richards and Pat were married. Then, in 1963 they moved from London to Elmira, New York, where Pat’s brother was now living. While in Elmira, Peter worked for the Bendix Company and volunteered at his church. In 1976 the Richards’ moved to Syracuse where Peter became Superintendant of Maintenance at the Episcopal Diocese. Part of his compensation was housing for his now family of 4 at the Thornfield Conference Center in Syracuse. In 1980 Peter took a course at H & R Block to prepare people’s taxes, which gave him some additional needed income. He did this until 1997.
One day in 1986 Peter saw an advertisement for volunteers for Hospice of CNY. This brought back memories of when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1967. As soon as he found out that she was ill he booked flights to London and was with his mother in the hospital the next day. Peter said, “I remember back then that hospice care was done in a number of free standing homes around the city. It wasn’t called hospice, but performed the same purpose of providing comfort to the patient and support for the family caregivers. Unfortunately, we could not take advantage of that service because my mother passed away while still in the hospital.”
That memory motivated Peter to become a volunteer for Hospice of CNY, a position he has held for the past 31 years, while he still worked for the Diocese. He soon learned that hospice care is for people who were not expected to live past 6 months. If the patient was still alive after 6 months they had to be recertified to receive that care.
Before volunteering, Peter was required to go thru a training course at the Hospice of CNY office which was located at the Presbyterian Church on Genesee Street in Syracuse.
The training began with the volunteers writing their own obituary. Peter exclaimed, “that was eye opening!” Then, the volunteers were taught how to be good listeners, and how to get comfortable talking about death.
Much of Peter Garner-Richards time spent volunteering at hospice with the caregiver, who was usually the spouse. He would run errands for them, take them out for lunch, and try to take their minds off of their 24/7 job of caregiving for their loved ones. There are also times when Peter would spend time with the patient, so the spouse would have time to take a break and go shopping for food, look for books in the library, or simply be alone to rest.
While the average stay at hospice before death is just 1 month, Peter remembers one man who lived for 2 years after the terminal diagnosis, and had to be re-certified for hospice care every 6 weeks. Peter, coming from England, was pleased to find out that this man enjoyed playing cribbage, so that’s what they did quite often.
The hospice center tries to match up volunteers with caregivers that they have something in common with. This makes everyone more comfortable and leads to interesting conversations to pass the time. That being said, it is wise for volunteers to avoid being involved in hospice care for someone they know. However, Peter said that some relationships continue. He said, “I just received a call from a widow who’s husband died in 2012, and who I was a hospice volunteer for. I usually get several calls a year from her, so it is a nice feeling to know that I made a difference.”
While working at the Diocese as Maintenance Supervisor, and volunteering once a week at hospice, Peter took classes at OCC night school so he would be prepared to one day own his own small business. And, Pat worked as the secretary to the Priest at Trinity Episcopal Church in Fayetteville.
Then, in 1994, they were told that the Diocese had no budget left to continue to operate the Thornfield Conference Center and the facility was going to close. That meant Peter would lose his job, and his family would have to find somewhere else to live.
So, Peter put his engineering and business schooling to good use by purchasing an apartment building in Chittenango which provided a good income.
In addition to hospice, the Richards also volunteered at Crouse Hospital for a number of years, where they performed a myriad of essential duties.
Michele Devlin says that her job as Volunteer Coordinator for Hospice of CNY is extra important because one of the basic requirements of Medicare certified hospice programs is that 5% of all the patient care hours have to be provided by volunteers. So not only do we value and respect the dedicated folks who want to help we need them in order to continue to receive Medicare dollars. Devlin said, “ We have over 300 volunteers that help in various ways. We have a group that help with administrative tasks and fundraising, but the largest volunteer contingent would be the Family Care Giver Volunteers. They provide direct support to patients and families. They serve as a friendly companion. They do not perform hands on care but the ways they help can be immeasurable to the families they are assigned.
It’s a privilege and honor that families allow us to be present during this sacred time. Generally folks don’t want to speak about death and dying let alone acknowledge it will happen to them, but Hospice volunteers put themselves out there at this crucial time in a family’s life and are open and caring and compassionate.
Peter Garner-Richards and his wife, Pat, live in East Syracuse. They enjoy reading and have traveled extensively thru Colorado, the west coast, many national parks, and more recently, the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach.
For volunteer opportunities contact Michele Devlin at: [email protected]
To recommend someone with a stellar record of volunteering to be featured in this column contact Mel Rubenstein: [email protected] or 682-7162.
