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ARCHBOLD.ORG •
SPRING 2015
7
An avid dog-lover, Vickers felt dog
therapy would be an excellent program
for inpatients at Archbold Memorial
Hospital. Hospital administration agreed.
Not to be confused with service dogs,
therapy dogs help patients simply by
visiting them. Specially trained Archbold
volunteers—who also happen to be
dedicated pet owners and are referred to
as handlers—chaperone their pet while
they are visiting with patients.
Faithful companions
The inpatient program, which launched
in 2014, is now composed of five dog/
handler therapy teams that visit patients
every Wednesday and Saturday.
“All our volunteers complete special
training with their dogs,” Vickers said.
“The dogs complete Therapy Dogs
International testing and become certified
therapy dogs. Each dog attends a six-week
course, at which time they learn basic
obedience techniques and are trained to
work around medical equipment.”
Leigh Ann Falconer, certified trainer
with Therapy Dogs International (TDI),
serves as the coordinator for the Hospice
of Southwest Georgia dog therapy pro-
gram. She also leads training classes for
both the new hospital-based dog ther-
apy program and the hospice program.
“During class, each dog is evaluated for
temperament to determine whether
they are capable of remaining calm,
cooperative and willing to follow all
handler commands in difficult situations,”
Falconer said. “At the end of the training
course, each dog and handler must take
and pass a test to become TDI-certified.
All dogs and their handlers must be
certified and up-to-date on all immu-
nizations before they’re allowed to visit
with patients.”
Though any patient can simply
request a visit, dog therapy may not be
ideal for everyone.
“Of course, we respect our patient’s
preference—we don’t visit patients that
are allergic to animals or have a fear of
animals, or patients in any type of isola-
tion,” Vickers said.
Who can benefit?
As the Archbold patient care team gets
to know each patient, they may recom-
mend or ask the patient if they’d like pet
therapy as a treatment option. And upon
arrival, the therapy teams determine
which patients would like a visit by a
special paw symbol that the nurse has
placed on the patient’s door.
“Many patients anticipate the dog
therapy visit for days in advance,” said Kate
Grimes, director of inpatient rehabilitation
at Archbold. “Many of our patients are in
inpatient rehab for an extended period
of time. When the dogs visit, patients will
frequently speak about their own dogs
that are waiting for them to return home
or their past experiences with a family dog
that brings back good memories. Our
patients and their family members really
seem to enjoy the visits and express appre-
ciation for this new support therapy.”
Studies have shown animal therapy
promotes lowering blood pressure,
improves dexterity and helps with pain
management.
“The animals also help distract
patients from the pain they may
experience during movement, and
scientific studies have shown that time
with therapy animals speeds recovery,
helps lower stress and alleviates
loneliness,” Vickers said. “The dogs also
provide emotional and social support
to people in a nonjudgmental manner
and bring some sense of normality to an
otherwise foreign environment, like the
hospital.”
But according to Grimes, it’s not just
the patients and their families who have
fallen in love with dog therapy.
“Our staff loves it too,” said Grimes. “It
is such a morale booster for our patient
care team. I frequently hear them say it’s
the highlight of their shift.”
Vickers added: “It’s always very fulfill-
ing to see the smiles from patients and
their loved ones when we visit. And our
volunteers get just as much joy out of
their visits with patients, as the patients
seem to enjoy visiting with the dogs. It’s
a very rewarding experience for our vol-
unteers to see how the therapy makes a
difference and really helps these patients
and their families.”
“The power of the human-animal bond is strong, and
I really do believe that companion animals have the
ability to assist our patients in healing.”
—Donna C. Vickers, ANP
The inpatient pet therapy program is composed of five dog-handler therapy teams.
They visit patients every Wednesday and Saturday.