Therapy Dog Teams for Faith-Based Hospice-Northbrook and Evanston

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Patients nearing the end of life benefit greatly from the presence of caring humans and dogs alike. Many patients in facilities have had to leave their pets behind. Bring joy to those in need with your visits. Comprehensive training (for the humans) provided free of charge. Registered therapy dog teams only.

Who We Are

CovenantCare Hospice is a part of the CovenantCare family of services that includes home health care, private duty assistance, and comforting hospice care for patients and their families. As experts in every aspect of home care, we provide choices and unique plans of care for the people we serve-that is our difference.

Our care includes volunteers who embrace CovenantCare’s 100-year tradition of Christian service and healthcare outreach. CovenantCare Hospice is affiliated with Covenant Village of Northbrook, Windsor Manor, and The Holmstad. We also serve the surrounding communities

What do volunteers do?

There are many different things that our volunteers can do for patients and their families; most importantly, they are friendly visitors who are trained to listen to and reflect with patients and their families- while attending to comfort needs.

Volunteers may also:

• Run errands
• Assist with light housekeeping and/or meal preparation
• Read, write letters, sing for patients or record life stories
• Care for pets
• Assist with office tasks, special projects and events- including fundraising events.

Volunteers who are professionals may also provide comforting massages, hair cuts, and manicures.

Finally near death, volunteers can be a comforting and reassuring presence, maintain a vigil near time of death, and offer grief support to surviving family members.

What is the volunteer commitment?

Typically we ask for a one year commitment. We try to match requests for services with our volunteers’ individual schedules, availabilities, interests, geographic area, and comfort level. A volunteer’s commitment may range based on your availability. As we strive to match your interest and needs with those of our patients and their families, there may be times when there are no appropriate matches for a particular volunteer. But, we will always strive to match your interests, wants, and needs with the unique needs of our patients and their families.

What is the training for a volunteer?

We offer 16 hours of initial training to meet regulatory obligations and to ensure volunteer’ familiarity, comfort and competency to serve. Throughout the year, we supplement that training with topic-specific workshops and in-service opportunities to provide more in-depth education. Volunteer training is free of charge.

What are the requirements to volunteer?

Individuals interested in direct volunteer service with our patients, volunteers must be 18 or older. For those wishing to volunteer for indirect volunteer service, must be 14 years old or older. Volunteers must pass a background check, drug test, and a TB screen.