Dog therapy means more than a pat on the head
Dog therapy means more than a pat on the head
Volunteer group does all the work
Pet therapy has become a popular volunteer service in various health care settings in recent years, but it mostly entails a friendly dog or cat and some petting time with patients. In Chicago, a non-profit organization called Chenny Troupe has taken pet therapy to a new level by making well-trained dogs available for patient rehabilitation therapy. Recreational therapists match dogs and their volunteer owners with patients to create a weekly session in which patients work on their therapy exercises with the dogs.
"It’s such a wonderful program, and every single week it’s amazing because there’s always a major outcome," says Lisa Farmer, CTRS, director of therapeutic recreation department at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), which is one of the rehabilitation facilities that uses Chenny’s free pet therapy services.
"Our program leader and volunteers work with the staff at each institution to make sure the exercises the patients are involved in help them meet therapeutic goals," says Janet Rosen Eaton, executive director of Chenny Troupe, which was founded 10 years ago. For example, at one rehab facility in Chicago, a boy patient refused to walk and was unresponsive because of pain. It was only when the pet therapy dog and volunteer worked with the child that he began to exercise and walk. The boy’s incentive was to play with the dog, Eaton recalls.
At RIC, the Chenny Troupe visits one evening a week with a group of eight or nine dogs and their owners. Recreational therapists match patients up with dogs according to each patient’s goals and needs. For instance, a dog that likes to play catch will be matched with a patient who needs upper-extremity strengthening, Farmer explains. If a patient is working on speech therapy goals, then the therapist might suggest that the patient call the dog or tell it to roll over or shake hands.
The sessions are designed to be successful, so even if the dog has difficulty understanding the patient’s command, the dog’s owner will be standing beside the patient giving the dog hand commands. This way, the dog will do exactly what the patient has commanded it to do, Eaton says. "So it’s a no-lose situation; they always succeed, and frustration is reduced," Eaton adds.
At the start of each pet therapy session at RIC, there is a general introduction made between patients and volunteers. Patients may talk about their own pets, and while introductions are being made, they can pet the dogs and get to know them. Then volunteers, dogs, and patients are paired into small groups because some dogs will work with more than one patient at a time, Farmer says.
Patients are screened according to their desire to work with the dogs and also for animal allergies. "It’s an optional group," Farmer says. "We advertise the program around the hospital and talk with patients about it, but it’s not mandatory."
RIC does not bill patients for the therapy time, but as it is considered a treatment program, the hours spent in pet therapy are entered in the patients’ medical records, Farmer says. RIC administrators were easily sold on the volunteer program when Chenny Troupe first presented it about eight years ago, Farmer says. "We were very open to doing something like this, because we can always use animals in some way here, and this is very much therapy-oriented," Farmer says.
The Chenny Troupe has no difficulty finding rehab facilities and other organizations that would like to use pet therapy services, Eaton says. (See "Volunteers supply trained dogs to assist with rehab," in this issue.)
"We make sure a facility has a population that could benefit from the program, and since it’s unique, we don’t provide pet therapy for nursing homes, because there are other programs that can do that," Eaton adds. "We go into arenas where we can do what makes us unique."
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