Doula program volunteer, Peggy Neimeth

After working her entire adult life, Peggy Neimeth retired as a clinical social worker a few years ago and knew she wanted to do absolutely "nothing." During her professional career, Peggy was involved in many social-welfare projects and held high-level posts, including the development of a child-abuse treatment program. So, after retiring, Peggy decided she wanted to do something special with her new free time, and she went to UJA-Federation of New York to offer her services. "After I retired, I realized that it would be very hard for me to do frivolous things, and I also wanted to give back to the community."

Joining up with UJA-Federation was a natural choice for Peggy, since she comes from a family that had long been involved with the federation system. Her parents, Murray and Mary Sprung, ran federation-affiliated summer camps, and her father-in-law, Edward Neimeth, was the first president of Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn.

Peggy met with Alaine Waldshan, director of volunteer services of UJA-Federation’s Volunteer and Leadership Development Division (VLDD), to discuss opportunities and she learned about the Doula to Accompany and Comfort program, which provides comfort and companionship for terminally ill patients. "I had two very close friends who died, and I knew how important it was to have someone with you at life’s end," she notes. "Participating in the Doula program was something that I wanted to do. I hoped to be of comfort to other people."

Doula is a program of the Shira Ruskay Center at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, a beneficiary agency of UJA-Federation. Its volunteers provide emotional, spiritual, and social support; comfort; plus practical assistance and advocacy to a person near the end of life. Doula volunteers make a significant difference in the lives of those for whom there is no hope of recovery.

Peggy said, "Because of my social-work background, I was assigned to work with a woman who was terminally ill and also had mental-illness issues. Over the five-and-a-half months that we worked together, we formed a close relationship. My last visit was two days before she died."

The experience Peggy had with this woman was one that she will never forget. "We formed a real bond with each other."

Peggy, a mother of four daughters and a grandmother of 10, grew up in a Jewish environment, and worked while a teenager at the Educational Alliance and at Jewish camps. Her husband Richard has also been involved in community volunteer experiences. "I got a very good feeling at the Doula program because of the wonderful work they do there," Peggy says. "In the near future, I want to get another assignment."