Newswise — It’s Friday morning and Darby is lounging around the house until his handler, Nancy Lindsay, pulls out her long-sleeved white sweatshirt.
Darby recognizes the shirt. It’s worn by members of the Fur Angels, and that means it’ll soon be time to go to work.
“Most of the time, they’re just like normal dogs,” says Lindsay, who has volunteered with the group for more than 10 years. “When they see the shirt, they know it’s time for business.”
The Fur Angels is one of several pet therapy groups that visit the hospitals throughout Beaumont Health in Michigan. They visit patients and staff alike, bringing comfort and cheer in their own silent, tail-wagging way. They visit Beaumont Hospital – Taylor every Friday afternoon and other hospitals on other days. Royal Oak has had a therapy dog program for more than 20 years; more than 40 dogs and their handlers currently take part in the program. There are 14 regular canine visitors at Troy and three at Grosse Pointe. Therapy Dogs International certifies all therapy dogs at the Royal Oak, Grosse Pointe and Troy hospitals.
“It’s very rewarding,” says Jan Beregszaszy, who coordinates the Fur Angel program at Beaumont – Taylor. “We enjoy it, the dogs enjoy it and the patients enjoy it.” Jean Litfin, a regular volunteer at Royal Oak and Troy, agrees. “I started out thinking I was going to do something nice. It turns out, I feel blessed every time I come. It’s remarkable what dogs can do for people. It’s almost like an underlying sixth sense that they have.”
The concept of bringing therapy dogs into hospitals dates back more than 40 years and has grown exponentially since then. Terry Seraceno, a nursing staffing secretary at Beaumont Hospital – Farmington Hills, learned about the program as an Oakwood employee in 1986. She brought it to the Farmington Hills hospital in 1994 and saw the need for it in hospitals throughout Michigan. She created Doctor Paws Pet Assisted Therapy, and spends her free time coordinating appearances and training new recruits. She now oversees a database with about 490 certified pet therapy dogs and 140 different sites throughout southeastern Michigan.
“It just grew and grew and grew,” Seraceno says. “I was getting a lot of phone calls; a lot of different facilities were calling us.”
Now, the Fur Angels, Dr. Paws and other groups like Pet-a-Pet are greeted as warmly by staff as they are by the patients for their ability to provide comfort in the often hectic environment.
“They bring joy to the patients and the therapists as well,” says James Comito, a radiation therapist at Beaumont – Royal Oak. “They are those bright faces that come over to see everybody.”
Sometimes, the therapy dogs don’t even have to visit the patients to have a positive influence on their attitude and recovery. “There are people who are not dog people,” says Cindy Leskun, whose corgi-mix has visited patients for more than six years. “But even seeing us walk down the halls is enough to bring a smile to their faces.”
Seraceno says there’s always a need for additional certified therapy dogs, which is why she is just as active in teaching new handlers and their dogs how to get involved. The requirements are: dogs need to be at least one year old—and some older, depending on their disposition—and go through a successful training program. Owners with rescue pets must have had them for more than three months before they can begin training.
“Sometimes, it’s not the dogs that need training, it’s the person that needs training,” Beregszaszy says, “But, we never tell them that.”
RSS