The Hospice For Utah Foundation would like to spotlight one of our exceptional new volunteers. Pamela Clark has joined our team in an effort to create "Life Stories" for hospice patients. We are delighted with her enthusiasm and expertise and look forward to growing this fantastic new program. Please read on to learn more about this extraordinary individual and her work.
COPY: I am a homemaker with two boys age eight and nine. Now that my boys are more independent, I wanted to find a civic project where I could make a difference. I was already active in our church, serving in many groups and even designing a new logo for the church. Yet, I still wanted to reach out to individuals in the community. My inspiration to become a Hospice volunteer came from my son and father.
My youngest son, Connor Harlan Clark, is named after his Grandfather Harlan, who died before he was born. There have been so many times when I wished that I could "introduce" Connor to his grandpa through a video or audio recording.
My father recently turned 80 and I put together a Life Review in honor of his 80th birthday. Many of his friends said, "I wish I had someone who would do that for me." I wanted to make a Life Review for every father in the room! When I heard a Hospice radio advertisement asking for volunteers to help record patients' memories, I knew that was my calling.
I have always enjoyed talking with older people and I have learned so much from their collective wisdom. Making Life Review recordings is like have a heart-to-heart chat with my parents. It is like having an entire community of wise old grandparents. They help me keep my life in perspective and remind me to focus on the important things in life. I absolutely love making the Life Reviews.
My current challenge is finding the time to produce, record and edit numerous Life Reviews. Here's the process:
1. Conduct a two-hour initial consultation where I develop a brief outline for the recording. I have an outline of questions and memory-joggers that I leave with them to consider.
2. Conduct two days (four hours) of on-site recording. That's the fun part!
3. Gather the supplementary photographs and return home. That's where the work begins. It usually entails two hours of scanning photographs, and 20-30 hours of editing. I hope to streamline the process and become faster at editing in the future. If there are any volunteers out there who do video editing, give me a call! Ultimately, I would like to be able to hire a full-time editor.
My career in marketing and public relations had to end when my Multiple Sclerosis worsened, but this is the "job" that I've always dreamed of.
