Dear Friends and Neighbors,

CentraCare and Carris Health care givers have been working around the clock for more than 20 months to care for you, your families and friends during COVID. We are committed to caring for every Minnesotan who needs us, and nothing will prevent us from doing so – even during these never-seen-before times.

The challenge of providing this level of care is that our hospital beds are often full. ERs in all of our hospitals are packed. And our clinical teams are exhausted. Early in the pandemic, our community stepped up in amazing ways to helps us. We ask that you again join us in fighting this pandemic together.

How can you help?

  • Please get your COVID vaccines and booster shots. They are proven safe and effective in reducing COVID illness, keeping people out of the hospital, and preventing death.
  • If your situation is not an emergency, please use other care options, including:
  • If this is a medical emergency, call 9-1-1, or visit the ER.

Together, we can do this. Thank you for your support.

Ken Holmen, MD
President and CEO

Compassionate Care For The Journey

We understand how important it is for a hospice patient to live with comfort and dignity. Through skilled nursing care, counseling, support and education, we help patients and families live each day with meaning and purpose.

Why Carris Health - Rice Hospice for Hospice Care?

Hospice care at Carris Health - Rice Hospice features the following:

  • Compassionate care that focuses on the patient and family as a unit
  • Convenient care that allows us to meet your needs in your own home so that you can stay where you’re most comfortable
  • Support services that may include:
    • Education
    • Pain and symptom management
    • Palliative care
    • Support and respite for caregivers
    • Free grief and bereavement follow-up for 13 months following the death of a loved one
    • Complementary therapies and special programs including music, healing touch, massage therapy, Canine Care for the Journey and the Sentimental Journey program
  • A team comprised of various specialists (physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, bereavement counselors, massage therapists, hospice volunteers, home health aides and rehabilitation therapists) that address a wide range of needs
  • Partnership with We Honor Veterans, a pioneering campaign developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to ensure that we care for veterans in a manner that’s appropriate and customized

The following bereavement services also are available through Carris Health - Rice Hospice:

  • Camp G.K. Bear for Children
  • Share A Memory – Tree Lighting Ceremony
  • Bereavement Volunteer Training
  • Service of Remembrance
  • Resource Library
  • Speaker’s Bureau

Supporting Hospice

Many of the special hospice services provided by Carris Health - Rice Hospice are possible because of community support. Memorials and donations of any amount are greatly appreciated.

Become a Hospice Volunteer

Volunteers are an important part of the care provided by Carris Health - Rice Hospice. They can bring joy and comfort to patients and their families during the last stages of life.

What do hospice volunteers do?

Volunteers can help patients and families in the following ways:

  • Give respite and emotional support to the patient and family
  • Provide caring companionship to the patient
  • Listen to the concerns and fears of patients and family
  • Provide transportation or help with shopping and errands
  • Read to the patient
  • Write letters for the patient
  • Perform light house duties
  • Provide grief and bereavement support to families and caregivers in the months following the death of their loved one

Volunteers should be sensitive, mature, flexible, patient, reliable, compassionate, respectful and able to have difficult discussions about death and dying.

If you’re interested in becoming a hospice volunteer, please contact us.

Office Locations

  • Appleton
    Appleton Municipal Hospital
    30 South Behl
    Appleton, MN 56208
    320-289-8525
  • Benson
    1815 Wisconsin Avenue
    Benson, MN 56215
    320-843-1308
  • Dawson
    Johnson Memorial Health Services
    1282 Walnut Street
    Dawson, MN 56232
    320-312-2131
  • Granite Falls
    Granite Falls Municipal Hospital and Manor
    345 Tenth Avenue
    Granite Falls, MN 56241
    320-564-6239
  • Montevideo
    CCM Hospital
    824 North 11th Street
    Montevideo, MN 56265
    320-321-8217
  • Ortonville/Graceville
    Ortonville Area Health Services
    450 Eastvold Avenue
    Ortonville, MN 56278
    320-839-4124
  • Willmar
    Rice Memorial Hospital
    301 Becker Avenue SW
    Willmar, MN 56201
    320-231-4450

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