For the James L. West Center for Dementia Care, Fort Worth, TX, the “power of connection” is an integral part of its mission to care for people living with every stage of dementia. “Maximizing what remains” for residents and clients, many of whom live with the most difficult diagnoses, is the focus of the West Center’s evidence-based care, not “what is lost through the disease.”

One West Center initiative brings the power of connection to those nearing the end of life. The 11th Hour program is designed to give emotional support and companionship to residents in their final one to five days of life. Volunteers are the heart of the program, sitting with residents, sharing conversations, prayer, music, or just a human presence.

“The goal is that no resident dies alone, and their transition is filled with dignity and grace,” writes Hollie Glover, director of education and family support services at the West Center, in a blog post about the program.

Glover, a certified grief therapist who started the 11th Hour program in 2021, says volunteers are there to try to reduce stress and anxiety for the resident while helping family members with information and support. “Team members create a peaceful and sacred environment for the resident and family to share their last hours together and say goodbye.”

11th Hour is not a hospice program; it runs parallel to hospice services that families may choose for their loved ones, says Cathy Neece Brown, vice president of mission support/chief strategy officer. “Sometimes the hospice will have a continuous care nurse there,” says Brown, “and in many ways, that nurse’s focus is the resident or patient, but not necessarily the family.” Through the 11th Hour program, the West Center “makes sure that everyone who is a part of the passing of the resident is receiving social and emotional support,” she adds. Now in its fourth year, the 11th Hour program has served 82 families with 854 hours of volunteer time since its inception.

Volunteers, ranging in age from 22 to 88, go through a two-hour, twice-yearly training. Staff and volunteers are trained in death and dying, along with Compassionate TouchⓇ, a method to connect and communicate with families and persons living with dementia. Recently, several area medical schools have begun to send students to the West Center for its training in dementia and to work in the 11th Hour program. “Physicians are there to sustain life, and often don’t see death, and this is a way for the students to see and experience it,” Brown says.

When assigned to a dying person, “Volunteers are given an ‘11th Hour Kit’ that includes everything from music to a narrative about the resident so that we can be on the same page with the family and the resident and understand what the resident’s preferences are,” Brown says. CDs of the resident’s favorite music, religious texts, aromatherapy, and a variety of other tools are available.

Passion and compassion are the common traits that distinguish the volunteers, currently numbering 18, who want to serve in this program. “It’s the type of person who really leads with their heart and sees the value of walking this road in darkness,” says Brown. “Many times, for families, it ultimately frees them from their walk with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Some [volunteers] have done it for a decade, and some people have experienced it for a year, but [they] are really called to do this work, and they’re not afraid of the hard stuff.”

Learn more about the James L. West Center’s program in this recent Fort Worth Report article and in Glover’s blog post. (The West Center will also host a member site visit as part of the 2025 Larry Minnix Leadership Academy curriculum.)

Photo: Most of the active 11th Hour program volunteers, from a recent volunteer appreciation event. Photo courtesy of James L. West Center for Dementia Care.

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