Needs From: Volunteer United

Love is multiplied by just 4 paws! If you have a pet therapy animal, we need you!

Pet therapy is yet another way that Caris Healthcare brings comfort and smiles to our hospice patients and their families.

Our pet therapy teams visit our patients at long term care facilities, assisted living communities, private residence, or wherever they call home.


•Owner must be a  patient care volunteer and successfully complete
volunteer orientation
• Pet and owner must be registered with a nationally recognized therapy animal organization.
• Owner must complete a Virginia State Police background check and a two step TB test. 

At Caris Healthcare, we depend on support from administrative volunteers in our office - preparing mailings, helping with special events, writing note cards, making phone calls, and more. By volunteering in this capacity, we are able to devote more time to our patients.

Volunteering as an administrative/community outreach volunteer, you are helping in the office and sharing community connections. This will allow us to maximize our ability to serve families in our communities.

All administrative/community outreach volunteer candidates must have a background check prior to beginning service with our organization.  Our agency performs the background check and will cover the cost.

Also required, a driver's license or state issued identification with picture.

Our special project veteran volunteers give back to the community in a very special way!

As part of the national organization, We Honor Veterans (WHV), Caris works closely with our veteran patients and community veteran groups. We provide recognition ceremonies to honor their time in service. What better recognition than to be presented with an honorary pin and certificate than by another vet?

As a special projects veteran volunteer, there are some very special ways you can become involved, for instance: 

Hospice is a special way of caring for terminally ill patients and their families. 

Veteran Volunteers can assist our veteran patients by providing an outlet and discussing events that can provide closure to our veteran patients and their families. 

Caris Healthcare is committed to serving veterans by tailoring hospice services to specific spiritual, physical and emotional needs. Our patients are terminally ill and veterans may have a unique need at the end of life.

Caris is part of the We Honor Veterans program which is specifically for veterans that are in hospice care. 

Volunteering with us fits into your schedule. We work with you to ensure your donation of time is used to the fullest.  By being a non-medical companion to a veteran, you will find that being a friend and listening is well worth your time.

Requirements: 

All Screenings and background checks are at the expense of Caris. 

There is a patient near you, at home, in a nursing facility or assisted living, waiting for you to be their friend! Call today!

Caris Healthcare provides hospice volunteers to volunteer directly with patients and caregivers in their place of residence, nursing home or assisted living community. These special volunteers provide emotional, spiritual, and physical support to patients and families.

A few examples of tasks: visit with patient so a caregiver can run errands, help organize photos, letter writing, reading a book, providing spiritual reading or prayer or just be a friend that shows up and listens.

This is a non-medical position and no physical labor is required.

The coverage area is for Washington, Smyth, Grayson, Tazwell, Russell and Bristol, Virginia.

All hospice volunteers receive training to ensure that they feel comfortable performing their requested/assigned care activities. Volunteers determine the amount of time they can provide, but generally it is 1-2 hours a month!

We take pride in our world class volunteers. We believe they are the best of the best! Therefore, all volunteer candidates must pass a background check and TB screen prior to beginning service with our organization. Agency will cover the cost of the TB and background check. This is to ensure the safety of our patients and families.