When veterans go into hospice care, being lonely is the last thing they should feel, and Claude Schmid wanted to do something about that.
Schmid, a veteran who spent 31 years in the Army, said his last assignment on active duty was to be the chief of the Wounded Warrior Flight Program, where he would help evacuate the wounded and get them stateside for care.
“During that job, I learned a lot about veterans and vets in great adversity and so after I retired, I wanted to continue to give back to the vets community,” Schmid said.
When trying to figure out how he wanted to give back, he thought about how his mom used to volunteer in hospice when he was a child and would tell him stories about what she learned while visiting the people in hospice.
Schmid then wondered what happened to the veterans in hospice.
That thought led him to begin the nonprofit Veteran’s Last Patrol in 2019, which aims to serve veterans in hospice care by connecting them with volunteers who can provide friendship and support during end-of-life care.
Schmid said there are about 500 volunteers whose focus toward the veterans is friendship, honor ceremonies and support.
"A lot of veterans have very little or no family when they get to that age and so the volunteers bring them comfort and companionship," Schmid said.
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The volunteers make visits to vets in the facility and provide fellowship, hold ceremonies with gifts to honor the veterans’ lifework and to support the veterans, whether it is helping them find out what to do with their pets when they pass or being part of the Last Wish Program.
“Veterans are about life service and this is a way to give back,” Schmid said. ‘Whether Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, military members spend time patrolling in their career, and when they go into the end of their life, it’s their last patrol and it should be done as a team.”
The nonprofit also holds events throughout the year, including an annual honor ride for veterans in hospice. Motorcycles and car clubs can join each other around the country in a “ride by” of nursing homes and hospice facilities in their area.
Another event held is an annual Operation Holiday Salute where people can mail holiday cards to the Veteran’s Last Patrol headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to be delivered to veterans in hospice facilities around the country.
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Although the nonprofit began in South Carolina, it now has volunteers in 24 states ranging from Seattle to south Florida to Connecticut.
“These volunteers are sometimes vets themselves, while other times it could be children or spouses of active military or veterans,” Schmid said. “The vets community want to take care of each other and this is a great way to do so.”
Around 1.5 million Americans go into hospice each year and around 10% are veterans.
“Dying is a sad part of everyone’s life and we want the vets to not be forgotten,” Schmid said.
There is always more work to be done and Schmid hopes his nonprofit continues to grow.
“This is the kind of volunteer work that anyone can do almost anywhere,” he said. “There’s likely assisted care and hospice care facilities near anyone so it’s an easy way to give back.”
For more information on the nonprofit or to get involved, click here.
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