Pet Therapy for Hospice Patients

Please share the gift of your CERTIFIED PET THERAPY ANIMAL with our hospice patients! Bristol Hospice is looking for Certified Pet Therapy Animals and their humans to bring joy to hospice patients in care homes and facilities. As hospice volunteers, you and your pet would have personal interactions with patients at the end of life. Hospice pet volunteers visit patients in nursing homes, assisted living communities and private homes. Hospice pet visits offer a welcome distraction from illness and help people feel a little less lonely. They leave their patients-and anyone else lucky enough to be around-smiling, more relaxed, maybe even healthier. Hospice pet therapy is a guided interaction between a person, and a certified animal. It also involves the animal’s handler. Animals interact with hospice patients during visits - individualized - per the patient’s comfort level.

There are social and emotional benefits of hospice Pet Therapy. Simply cuddling or petting an animal can reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and ease depression. Because a primary goal of hospice services is comfort care, Pet Therapy is an ideal option for providing comfort to patients who often feel isolated. If you are looking for a special opportunity for you and your pet, please contact us today.

Your volunteer time is flexible and valued! When you are a part of the Bristol Volunteer Team, you receive training, support, a network of fellow volunteers and staff. We are looking for volunteers and their pets who are licensed, have required vaccines and are already certified therapy animals. We have patients throughout the Portland and Salem areas -- Portland, Gresham, Sandy, Oregon City, Tigard, Hillsboro, Beaverton, St Helen's, Wilsonville, Newberg, Woodburn, Keizer, Salem and more.

Please reach out for more information.