When Darla Glover walks into a hospice room, she never knows exactly what she will be asked to give. Sometimes it’s music. Sometimes it’s silence. Often, it’s simply her presence.

Glover is a hospice volunteer with OSF HealthCare in Bloomington, Illinois where she sings for patients at the end of life. Classically trained as an opera singer, she began hospice work after a deeply personal experience that showed her the power of music in moments of transition.

A woman who she had sang for at a nursing facility was in the hospital and Glover visited her.  The woman was dying but Glover continued to sing “Over the Rainbow” as the patient exited the physical world.

“Right when it ended her son said, ‘Darla look!’ And I looked down and she had a smile on her face. The singing had actually calmed the labored breathing. She was even squeezing my hand and her son’s hand and there was a tear coming out of her eye and she passed over right when that song ended," Glover recalls.

That experience led her to pursue formal hospice training and volunteer work at OSF HealthCare. According to Mary Cox, hospice volunteer coordinator at OSF in Bloomington, Illinois, that training is essential. It involves explaining hospice care, some of the main diseases their patients might have, and how to communicate with patients and their families.

Cox works closely with volunteers, recruiting them, meeting monthly with them and matching them with patients based on need. She is currently looking for hospice volunteers who are veterans because she’ has had some specific requests.

Volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds. A lot are retirees, but some are still working.

“Some have background in health care and that maybe they've retired and wanted to, you know, give back so they hospice volunteer,” Cox explains. “But we also have volunteers that have never had experience in health care, and that is fine. It's just maybe they had a calling, or they maybe had a loved one on hospice and then decided that they wanted to give back.” 

Responding to needs

For Cox, the role of a hospice volunteer is less about tasks and more about responding to what a patient or family needs in the moment.

Glover says singing can provide a much-needed lift, but it’s not always what’s needed.

“There are many times I’ll have patients – again ones that I know for a long time or ones, not long – and I’ll sing. But then sometimes they just want someone to sit there, to hold their hand. They want to talk and then sometimes they don’t want to talk, they just want that presence of knowing they’re not alone.” 

Glover also reads aloud or sometimes plays soft music. Cox shares that hospice volunteers also provide support to caregivers.

“This also allows time, especially if the patient is at home, it allows time for the caregiver to have time for themselves. Whether they need to leave the home to go to their own appointment or run errands or they just want time away from the house, that allows time for caregivers to take a little breather and get things done that they need to.” 

Volunteering spreads love

Glover emphasizes that hearing is often the last sense to fade so she makes sure patients who wear hearing aids have them in when she’s there. Even if they aren’t verbal, she believes patients are listening and it matters. People ask her if the work depresses her. Glover says it’s the opposite. She leaves feeling so fulfilled and grateful.

“This work I’m doing; this is what gives me purpose and meaning to my life. I really believe the foundation is love. As Jesus said, ‘Love one another.’” 

Cox says families often hesitate at first to accept volunteer help, but many later wish they had started sooner.

For volunteers, the work can be emotional, but Cox says support is always available.

“I’ll come and sit with them and talk. They also know that if they ever needed to, they could talk to our bereavement coordinator, or social worker or even one of our chaplains because I want them to express. I don’t want them to hold onto any of that sadness or worry of that patient and their family.” 

Glover says despite witnessing death, the work has brought her peace rather than sadness. She credits her faith and training for helping her navigate grief — including her own. She recently lost a brother suddenly, but her background helped her cope.

And her work as a hospice volunteer has put a whole different light on death. Glover says she now sees it as a beautiful transition, not something dark. She encourages others who are empathetic and like people to consider becoming a hospice volunteer.

“You might say ‘I’m too emotional,’ or ‘I’m too sensitive.’ Well, actually that’s an advantage because I am. I now look at that as a very good trait whereas in the past I used to think it was not. But it is and so just try it.” 

Learn more about becoming a hospice volunteer at OSF HealthCare.

Hear complete versions of the most requested songs

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Make You Feel My Love

Media Clips of Darla Glover

Media Clips of Mary Cox

B-roll of hospice volunteer Darla Glover singing

Fighting back tears, Sara Mattillion cracks a big smile as she describes her late mother, Mercedes Woodworth, who died in October 2025, after a lengthy battle with cancer.

“My mom was a firecracker,” says Mattillion, a registered dietitian at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois. “She was definitely very spunky and quirky, full of life, love and energy for everyone.”

The 75-year-old Woodworth spent a year in OSF Hospice until she died October 17 of this year. She was living alone at her home in Burbank, Illinois, following the sudden death of her husband, Gary, in January 2025.

“It was one of the most awful things I've experienced in my lifetime,” Mattillion says. “But we felt supported by hospice. Everybody that surrounded my mom was also surrounding my brother and I. Taking care of somebody who's dying, and you know they're dying, is hard. It's emotionally taxing, mentally and physically.”

Mattillion and her brother Andrew made frequent trips back to the Chicago area to care for their mother, but the care from the hospice team at OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park, Illinois, proved invaluable.

“We’re there throughout the entire time,” says Barb Johnson, an OSF Hospice manager. “I always say that we walk beside the family and the patient, we don't go in and take over. We provide a lot of education, not only on what the disease is, but how that family member is going to take care of their loved one."

A care team, which includes a physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain and volunteers, also focuses on the emotional aspect of dying. Volunteers can help by sitting with patients or assisting with errands or chores around the home. Most importantly, they provide support for caregivers and loved ones.

Hospice is a program that focuses on the entire being of the patient, meaning physical, emotional, environment, as well as their family,” adds Johnson. “We provide as much attention to the family as we do the patient. Because the family is the one that is really taking care of the patient, and we're asking these people to do things that other people have gone to school for. To administer medication and to help them go to the restroom and change their clothes. For many of our families, this is a brand-new area that they're encountering.”

Mattillion says she and Andrew appreciated the clinical and emotional support from hospice. It gave them “peace of mind” during the difficult days. She adds that her mother, too, was overwhelmed by the care and compassion she received for nearly a year.

“She said that she didn’t know what she did to deserve so many angels around her,” Mattillion says. “She really appreciated everyone who was visiting her. How personable they were, and just how real everyone was being with her. She was able to connect with each person that came into the house.”

A month before Woodworth died, she and her family gained some closure thanks to participating in AARP’s Wish of a Lifetime®, a program that fulfills the dreams of older adults, often due to financial or health situations. Woodworth’s lifelong wish was to visit the Grand Canyon, which she did with her two adult children.

For four days, Woodworth and her children soaked in the beauty of the Grand Canyon – laughing, sharing stories, eyeing the majestic sunsets and gazing at the dancing stars.

“My mom said that it gave her a sense of peace and a renewal of energy that she needed to keep going for the time that she did,” Mattillion says. “It was fantastic.”

While hospice won’t change the eventual outcome, the true benefit of hospice is the support the patient and loved ones need during those crucial last days, weeks or months.

“It takes an emotional and physical toll on people to care for someone,” says Johnson.  “What we always tell family members is most important is that they take care of themselves first. Because if they don't take care of themselves, they're not going to be able to take care of their loved one.”

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month. For more information on hospice, visit the OSF HealthCare website. 

 

Sara Mattillion interview clips 

Barb Johnson interview clips 

Former President Jimmy Carter reached a significant achievement when he turned 100 on October 1. What makes Carter’s milestone birthday even more impressive is that he’s lived the past 19 months while in hospice care.

Carter died on December 29, 2024. 

According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 90% of patients who enter hospice care die within the first six months. About 36% of patients die within a week of entering hospice.

But Carter defied the odds.

Hospice experts agree that Carter’s extended stay in hospice has sparked plenty of discussion on the topic of end-of-life care. Sarah Whelan, MD, the medical director for OSF Hospice and Outpatient Palliative Care, Rockford, Illinois, says many people put off hospice care until it’s too late.

“President Carter's hospice process has really opened a lot of doors for conversation, and it really is about conversation,” says Dr. Whelan. “Many people feel that once you go on hospice care, the end is near. It's a few days away, or maybe a few weeks. I think it (President Carter) is really helping to dispel one of the biggest myths with hospice care – that you're imminently dying if you go on hospice care. But that's not the case in all situations.”

While the oldest-living former U.S. president is still living with hospice care, the objective remains the same – to make him as comfortable as possible.

“The goal of hospice is to help patients live out whatever days they have left with the best quality of life, help them obtain whatever goals they have left, if possible, and to manage their symptoms,” says Dr. Whelan. 

According to the National Care Planning Council, there are about 3,200 hospice programs in the U.S. that serve 1 million Americans a year during their final days and months.

Hospice is covered by private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. For people who continue to live past the six-month mark, a hospice medical director or hospice doctor will need to recertify them every two to three months for insurance to continue covering the cost of care. Dr. Whelan says she’s cared for patients who’ve lived as long as two years in hospice.

There are many factors that can impact how long a patient will live while in hospice care. Sometimes it’s due to changes in care, including fewer medical procedures and fewer medications.

“When you do go on hospice care, often we go through a process of de-prescribing some medications, and that can be scary, because you've been taking these medications for many years thinking this is how I have to live if I want to keep living,” says Dr. Whelan. “And when the goals shift from curing a disease to managing symptoms and comfort and quality of life, some of those medications really aren't necessary anymore, and they may actually be causing side effects that are decreasing your quality of life.” 

But hospice is more than just treating the patient’s physical condition. Dr. Whelan says a care team, which includes a physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain and volunteers, also focuses on the emotional aspect of dying. Many programs offer services such as pet, music, art and massage therapy for patients. Volunteers can help by sitting with patients or assisting with errands or chores around the home.

While hospice won’t change the eventual outcome, the true benefit of hospice is the support the patient and loved ones need during those crucial last days, weeks or months.

“As a hospice doctor, I feel that everybody should be in hospice care at the end of life,” says Dr. Whelan. “The actual dying process itself often has symptoms that can be managed to allow for comfort for the patient, but also comfort for the family.” 

For more information on hospice, visit OSF HealthCare. 

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