A PALLIATIVE care unit is calling on kind-hearted people to sit with strangers who are dying.

Macmillan Caring Locally needs specialist end of life volunteers at its Macmillan Unit in Christchurch Hospital ahead of a training programme in May.

Unlike medics or friends and family, who may be overcome with emotion, end of life volunteers sit with strangers simply listening to them as they come to terms with their death and help them find peace in their final moments.

The unit, which offers specialist palliative care to patients with any advanced, progressive, incurable illness, currently has nine end of life volunteers and are looking to take on around 15 more.

It comes following more than £4,500 funding from Christchurch Conservative Club.

Anita Rigler, volunteer coordinator at the unit, said: “Thanks to this funding, the Macmillan Unit are now actively recruiting for very special volunteers who are able to support patients in the final hours of life. No-one should die alone. This is not a role anyone can do.”

Volunteers need to be calm, kind, compassionate and caring but also have the ability to listen.

Anita added: “They have to be someone who doesn’t have the urge to talk or ask questions about the person’s ‘story.’ Full training is given for this role but the art of listening and doing nothing else is actually a really difficult skill to learn.”

Mandy Preece, who trains the volunteers, said she wants to ensure nobody dies in fear, feeling lonely or anxious.

She said: “People do say to me ‘how do you do that? Isn’t that depressing?’ but there is a beauty in it and it can be very moving."

Mandy has witnessed a man decorate his young wife’s room like a grotto, complete with fairy lights everywhere she looked. He even brought a screen to put family videos playing on a loop so when she did open her eyes, she would see her children playing or the family together on a beach.

She said: “I once sat with a young mother when she was dying and said ‘your husband has gone to pick up the children and they are all together.’

"You could tell her face just instantly relaxed and it brought her comfort that everyone else was okay.

“I ended up singing to her, it just came, goodness knows why. I sung ‘Beautiful Lady You are Loved.’

“She was completely unconscious but then she opened her eyes and she smiled at me, then she died. I said to the nurses ‘please tell her husband the last thing she did before she died was smile'.

“It’s very humbling. What is really interesting is that all the things that are really important in life come out.

“I’ve never sat with anyone who says they’ve got a nice house or wish they’d have spent more time at work.

“What they tell you is about being blessed with memories of their children or grandchildren or about the most amazing holiday they had, special days with the people they love or proud moments.

“The volunteers get so much out of it too. It has definitely changed me.

“Personally you grow and the appreciation of your life deepens.

“I don’t worry as much and I live much more for the moment and I’ve learnt to truly respect people, it is simple, it’s all about listening.”

Jed Place, who led the fundraising initiative for Christchurch Conservative Club, said: “My godfather died in Royal Bournemouth Hospital two years ago. His wife had just been released from hospital after suffering from a major stroke and it was impossible for her or for the family to be with him whilst he died. It was a terrible time and knowing he died alone left everyone feeling guilty to this day. To have had a volunteer advocate who could have sat with him whilst he died would have made all the difference to the family.”

Do you have what it takes to comfort a complete stranger or their family in the final hours of life? Contact Anita Rigler at the Macmillan Unit on 01202 705353.