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Eleven-year-old Dixie isn’t your typical visitor at BWH. The flat-coated retriever is one of three dogs now dropping in on patients as part of a pilot program to decrease patients’ stress levels and cheer them up.
This kind of therapy is Pat Reilly’s pet project. “We think that patients’ anxiety levels will decrease, and research has validated that,” said Reilly, MSN, RN, Nursing’s program manager of Integrative Care. Each patient who visits with a dog fills out a short questionnaire on the experience afterward, and nurses check their vital signs pre- and post-visit to see if their blood pressure and heart rate change.
“The visits we’ve already had show that pet visits have had a positive impact on these patients’ stress levels,” Reilly said.
Joel Wolff, PhD, one of the pet therapists volunteering at BWH, has done this rewarding job for 12 years at other health care centers. “I wouldn’t continue doing it if people didn’t enjoy it,” he said.
Wolff has witnessed many touching moments between pets and patients. “Once, a patient started talking to Dixie when I brought her in,” he said. “That wasn’t unusual in and of itself, but then the nurses told me the patient hadn’t spoken to anyone in the whole hospital since being admitted.”
Pet therapy is uplifting to many patients, but not for everyone, according to Reilly. “The therapists will work with the nurses on each floor to identify which patients would welcome a visit,” said Reilly, who has worked extensively with Infection Control to ensure that hygiene is not compromised.
Wolff and Dixie, along with fellow pet therapists Bobbie Brooks and Evelyn Bertheong, PhD, and their dogs Angel and Diva, respectively, will visit Tower 16, 14 and 12 as part of the program. The therapists have been oriented as BWH volunteers and wear the volunteer jacket and a BWH ID while at the hospital. Both the pet handlers and pets are certified through the Pets and People Organization, and dogs have had the necessary vaccinations required to be part of this program. Pets that are not part of this program are not allowed at BWH.