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Two years ago, the Rev. Arthur Lillicropp was holding the hand of a dying man in the intensive care unit at Kaiser South, singing “Amazing Grace” and thinking of his own father.

The patient had three children, but none was there. Lillicropp recalled how he missed his own father’s death by moments as he drove from Baltimore to the hospital in Philadelphia.

Lillicropp, 63, resolved to dedicate himself to making sure people have someone beside them at the end of their lives.

In March, he launched the local “No One Dies Alone” program at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, south Sacramento. NODA enlists volunteers known as “compassionate visitors” to sit with dying patients and keep them company.

The visitors also offer respite care to patients’ family members who need to take quick breaks while they are caring for their loved ones.

The first NODA program began in Eugene, Ore., and the movement has since spread across the country.

At Kaiser South, the program includes 17 volunteers, most of whom are Kaiser employees. Potential members sign up at kpcares.org and attend three five-hour training sessions to provide what Lillicropp refers to as a “ministry of presence.”

“These are staff members who are volunteering above and beyond their normal work hours to come and sit with people who are struggling with the end of life,” he said.

Pamela Richardson, 47, works at the center as a human resources secretary. She joined the NODA program in December during its conceptual stages.

Her most emotional case, she recalled, was with a patient whose name remains unknown.

“This particular woman was found on the street, but she was obviously cared for,” said Richardson. “She had painted nails and a key to an apartment. But nobody seemed to be able to identify her. She had passed out on the street and was brought in.”

Throughout the couple of days the patient was comatose at the hospital, no friends or relatives surfaced. When it became apparent that she was going to die, NODA participants were called.

“I sat with her, held her hand, and told her that her family loved her and that I’m sure they were looking for her,” said Richardson. “I came in for a two-hour shift, but I couldn’t leave her, so I stayed for eight hours.

“But I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore so I ran home to get a quick nap. When I called back in to say I was on my way, the nurse said, ‘She’s going to go in the next five minutes; you’re not going to make it.’ She died while I was gone.”

So far, Richardson has been with three end-of-life patients. To keep from becoming too emotionally overwhelmed, she abides by Lillicropp’s suggestion of setting boundaries.

“You feel you are there for someone who has no one else,” she said. “At first I expected that I would leave crying and sad. But yet, I could see that with the patients I sat with, I know they will no longer feel pain or feel any suffering of any type.”

Richardson said she believes that this unfamiliar and limited relationship can also help the patient. “Because you’re not family and you’re not going to miss them like family would miss them, you bring a sense of calm and OK to them to go ahead and pass,” she said.

Lillicropp is exposed to many more deaths in his job as a hospital chaplain. Even outside the NODA program, he averages about four to five deaths a week. These include those he knows the names of, and range from the elderly to infants.

To help deal with such a high occurrence of death and avoid burning out, Lillicropp plays the piano and gardens.

“You have to go to a place that brings you strength and empowerment in the midst of despair,” he said. “So where do I go? I have two Labradors who I absolutely love.”

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