VIDAS Volontari Italiani Domiciliari per L’Assistenza ai Sofferenti
Corso Italia, 17 – 20122 Milan
Tel. 02 72 51 11 Fax. 02 89 01 47 03
e-mail
info@vidas.it
How to become a VIDAS volunteer
VIDAS VOLUNTEERS
All VIDAS volunteers are carefully selected and trained. We also organise in-house and external training updates.
A true feeling for humanitarian issues, a good mental and physical inner balance and a surplus of energy and warmth to give to our patients, are the main characteristics we are looking for in our volunteers.
It is essential for volunteers to build up a valid and constructive relationship with the patient and their family. Listening and establishing a dialogue are essential aspects of the volunteer-patient-family relationship.
How we select our volunteers
We ask our volunteers to dedicate two half days per week to VIDAS during working hours, monday to friday;
Volunteers must be between 23 and 65 years old and in good health;
Volunteers must be reliable and willing;
We cannot accept people who work in the field of medicine or social work;
We cannot accept anyone who has lost a member of the family over the last year.
Volunteers apply to us after having read our press releases and then enter a careful selection procedure carried out by our psychologists and co-ordinators. They check out people have the right motivation and aptitude to do this gratifying but difficult job, which requires team skills – volunteers are in constant contact with the VIDAS team, made up of doctors (who are experts in palliative care), nurses, psychologists and social workers.
The main stages in the selection procedure for volunteers are:
First level of selection, usually done over the telephone. Potential volunteers receive basic information about VIDAS;
Assembly for candidates who do an aptitude test;
Individual interview with one of our co-ordinators and with a VIDAS psychologist;
Training course for future volunteers (two sessions a week for about ten weeks) on "palliative cares" and the role of a volunteer;
“Practical training” for about six months in which the future volunteer begins working with VIDAS and, over the same period, attends group meetings run by the psychologist once a fortnight.
