Visiting Therapy Dog/Therapy Cat Teams

We have two Volunteer Orientation options this summer: a two day/4hr each class on June 5th and 12th from 9a -1p (you must attend both sessions or a one day/8r class on August 10th from 9a 5p.

Note: Volunteer Orientation sessions are scheduled thru out the year. Complete the application process to receiveemail announcements of upcoming sessions as they are scheduled and accepting registrations.

Do you have a calm, friendly and people-loving pet that would bring joy, encouragement and caring to our end-of-life patients? A furry friend can bring comforting presence thru a warm nuzzle, acomforting purrand afriendly face that just wants a pet. As a VisitingPet volunteer, you would be assigned to patients in long-term care facilities andhospitals where patients are receiving hospice services.

Pets must be accompanied by their handler. All visiting pet teams must be certified thru an approved therapy certification program, such as West Michigan Dog Therapy, Therapy Dogs International or Love on a Leash. If your pet is not already certified; volunteers are encouraged to register their furry friend for certification classes prior to attending volunteer orientation.

Additional Visiting Pet teams needed in all 11 counties of our service area! Volunteers determine which geographic area they would like to visit patients with their certified therapy dogs and/or cats.

Volunteers can complete their training and onboarding into our volunteer program while waiting for their pets to be certified thru a qualifying therapy pet program.

Note: Volunteers are asked to wait one year from the death of a significant personal contactbefore volunteering.

Volunteers especially needed in Ada, Big Rapids, Caledonia,Fremont, Grandville, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids,Greenville, Holland,Lowell, Newaygoand Wayland areas. Note: Volunteers are asked to wait one year after the death of a family member or friend before volunteering. Hospice volunteer training provided. Once trained, ongoing in-services are provided for support and skill development.

We offer a flexible Volunteer Orientation program!

Thistraining program format will allow candidates to complete some of the required training thru an on-line program at your convenience and provide additional times and locations for the in-person training component. The goal is to shorten the on-boarding process and add more flexibility in the training process making it easier for interested individuals to join our volunteer program.

Thetraining program consists of two components to be completed after the application process:

The first component is a 5.5 hour on-line training consisting of 15 short educational sessions with competency quizzes. This component is flexible and can be done in 1 sitting or multiple log-ins within a maximum of 30day time limit to complete.

The second component is an 8 hour in-person orientation. These sessions are offered as a classroom style learning experience. They are scheduled multiple times thru out the year in a range of geographic areas in 1 day (8hrs) option or a 2 day (4hr/day) option.

The program is designed so that all of the requirements (IGRA TB test, flu shot, fingerprinting etc.) to become an active volunteer are built into the training class and all costs are covered by Spectrum Health Hospice.

We will work with you to help you join ourvolunteer program and start supporting patients! Contact us to receive more information andapplicationinstructions. Call Yvonne at (616)391-4240 or toll free at 1-866-542-7945. Email us at: [email protected] .