Lee County Hospice names Moeller Volunteer of the Year

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LEE COUNTY - November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month. Lee County Health Department-Hospice is announcing that their 2020 Volunteer of the Year is Herb Moeller.
Herb was recently honored at the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Iowa Virtual Conference. Herb has been helping with LCHD-Hospice since 2005 when his wife Sandy was a Hospice volunteer. When Sandy became sick and couldn’t work due to cancer, she had Herb fill in for her and transport recyclables from LCHD office to the recycling center.
Before Sandy died, she told Herb her wish was that he would become a volunteer and continue the work that was so very important to her. Herb has been a full time volunteer since Sandy’s death in February 2018. In fact, volunteering was so important to Sandy that now her children and their spouses help with the Hospice Mystery Ride every year as well.

Herb likes volunteering for Lee County Health Dept-Hospice because it gives him something to do with his time. He believes LCHD-Hospice does a great job in the services they provide to the community. With the pandemic, Herb has had more time for his hobbies and other tinkering. He loves to play pool and tinker with his antique tractors. Currently he has been painting log chains that he had in his shed. Herb retired from City Carton Recycling in Mt Pleasant a few years before he began volunteering full -time. He is also very active in his church, Saint Alphonsus Catholic Church in Mt. Pleasant.

LCHD-Hospice has provided hospice care to the citizens of Southeast Iowa and West Central Illinois since 1989. Medicare mandates that 5% of their direct care be provided by volunteers, which is why volunteers are so very important to their hospice program. Hospice volunteers provide respite care so that family members can take a break from their care-giving roles. Volunteers visit clients in their homes whether it is a private home, a care center or an assisted living site. Volunteers do many different tasks for families such as running errands, reading to clients, and playing games. They also provide indirect hours by helping with jobs in the office, public speaking and fundraising activities.

“Volunteers are very important in providing help to our hospice clients and their families,” said Michele Ross, administrator, Lee County Health Dept-Hospice. “They donate their time graciously and willingly to help our clients and their families in their special time of need. They are a very valuable member of our hospice team.”

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