StudentsCare
Hospital Buddy Program · About this organization
What you get
College volunteers offer play, crafts, reading, celebrations and company; Comfort Kits can include toys, toiletries, socks, hats, gift cards, blankets, and personalized items.
How to start
Your hospital Child Life or Social Work team arranges StudentsCare visits and Comfort Kits. Ask them what your child can take part in.
Good to know
- Only available through participating sites.
The details, as published
Trained college volunteers provide recurring companionship, play, celebrations, and comfort items to pediatric patients at participating hospitals and family lodging sites.
What help you may get
Peer And Emotional Support
Buddy visits and activities
Weekly one-on-one visits provide companionship, games, crafts, reading, milestone celebrations, and emotional support.
Noncash help · Recurring
support sessions per week
Can cover
- Companionship
- Games, crafts, and reading
- Birthday, holiday, and treatment-milestone activities
- Visits are described as weekly.
- Official page describes weekly visits but no guaranteed count.
Practical Items And Home Help
Comfort items
Buddies and Pediatric Comfort Kits may provide toys, activities, toiletries, socks, hats, gift cards, blankets, photo books, and door signs.
Amount not published
items
Can cover
- Age-appropriate toys and activities
- Toiletries
- Cozy socks and hats
- Specialty gift cards
- Blankets and personalized comfort items
Why this may help
Practical Items And Home Help: Comfort Kits add toiletries, clothing, gift cards, and other practical items to the volunteer visits.
Check the main eligibility rules
Diagnosis
B-ALL is in scope. B-ALL fits the published seriously ill pediatric population and oncology is explicitly listed among long-term-care settings.
Age
The program does not publish an age limit.
- The program describes pediatric patients but publishes no numeric age limits.
Treatment status
Active Treatment, Maintenance Treatment, Relapse Or Recurrence
- The program is designed for children experiencing frequent or long-term hospitalizations.
- The child must be receiving services at a participating pediatric site when the site delivers the benefit.
Where you live and where your child is treated
Where your family lives
Residence coverage is not published clearly; confirm with the program.
- No residence rule is published; access depends on being served at a participating site.
Where your child is treated
Treatment must be through: StudentsCare Hospital Buddy Program sites.
- The service is delivered through a listed partner site and its Child Life, Social Work, or Volunteer Services workflow.
How to get started
Does a social worker or care team need to start it? Yes. Ask your child’s social worker or care team to begin the request.
Who can start: Hospital Representative, Child Life Specialist, Social Worker
- Ask the participating site's Child Life or Social Work team whether StudentsCare Buddy visits or Comfort Kits are available to the child.
Ways to apply or ask
- Hospital Workflow · Open form or page — Availability to an individual child is determined within a participating site; the page does not offer family intake.
Documents to prepare
No documents are listed.
- Hospital staff coordinate Buddy access within participating sites.
Availability and timing
| Program | Active |
|---|---|
| Applications | Hospital Mediated |
| Funding or space | Not Published |
| Application window | Not Applicable |
| Last checked | Aug 27, 2026 |
- Site-level patient availability is not published.
- No family application is published.
Limitations and things to confirm
- Only available through participating sites.
- The official site does not publish family selection rules or guarantee visits or kit delivery.
- What site-specific selection, consent, and capacity rules govern patient participation?
Official sources
Program details were last verified Aug 27, 2026. Availability can change, so check the official program before applying.
- Comfort Kits · checked Aug 27, 2026
- Hospital Buddy Program · checked Aug 27, 2026
- Pediatric Healthcare Providers · checked Aug 27, 2026
- How the Hospital Buddy Program Works · checked Aug 27, 2026
- Hospital Buddy Program Volunteer Role Description · checked Aug 27, 2026