Ginger Peer-Spencer, founder of Heartfelt Community and licensed massage therapist/owner of Heart Felt Touch Massage Therapy in Gloucester, will teach a class for family and caregivers, those who would like to volunteer, and those who already volunteer in nursing and retirement homes.

The class will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Daffodil Gardens 2, 5899 Fiddlers Green Road, Gloucester. Register by calling Peer-Spencer at 804-832-8859 or email Connect@heartfeltcommunity.org.

Compassionate Touch is a non-pharmaceutical approach, combining skilled touch and specialized communication shown to prevent behavioral expression in people with dementia and reduce job stress in care-partners. In palliative care, it provides a skilled touch with compassionate presence to enhance quality of life for those in the later stages of life, a release said.

Compassionate Touch can be utilized in any caregiving situation to instill trust, combat isolation, loneliness and has been shown to...