If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Parts 1  through 5.  Back to our story where we just received our official Delta Society Pet Partners badges…

We must be close now…actually depending on the facility you want to visit, you’re probably still 4-8 weeks away from visiting your first patient. What?? We’re already a registered therapy dog team, what could possibly take another 4-8 weeks?? Well now you have to go through the volunteer program for the facility that you want to visit. If you want to visit a hospital, you’re probably looking at a long bureaucratic process. We’ve heard that it can take less time for nursing homes and other facilities, but we can’t speak from experience on those.

We decided that we wanted to visit a local facility with a pet therapy program. Volunteering as a therapy dog team ususally involves a weekly committment, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible to keep our committment by choosing a facility within walking distance. With help from the ASPCA, we were able to identify a nearby facility with a pet therapy program - St. Vincent’s Hospital.

St. Vincent’s was actually the first New York State Department of Health test site for animal-assisted therapy in acute care facilities. In 1998, their pioneering work resulted in the state’s health code being changed to make animal-assisted therapy programs possible in hospitals. Edna Wolf, who runs the Animal-Assisted Therapy program at St. Vincent’s is truly an inspiration. She was a physical therapist at St. Vincent’s for many years. When Edna retired, she took over the management of the animal-assited therapy program as a full-time volunteer. Last we heard, the animal-assisted therapy program at St. Vincent’s had almost 30 active therapy dog teams.

So, bottom line….the therapy dog program at St. Vincent’s is terrific, but it was somewhat of an ordeal to get through the volunteer process.

First, a 4 page application, with SSN for background check and proof of certification by either Delta Society or TDI. 2-3 weeks later, we were scheduled for a volunteer orientation (during the 9-5 work day). This orientation was not specific for the therapy dog program, but contained basic information that all volunteers need to know about standard and emergency hospital procedures. Next a health screening, consisting of a physical and blood work to ensure that you have all critical immunities (during the 9-5 work day). The health screening also required 2 sets of PPD Tuberculosis tests which must be administered at least 2 weeks apart (during the 9-5 work day). Finally, a specific volunteer orientation with Edna, to show you the ropes and accompany you on your first day of visits (during the 9-5 work day).

You might notice that getting through the volunteer program required 4-5 tasks that needed to happen during the 9-5 work day, so unless you have a very flexible work schedule, you should plan to use a few personal or vacation days.

So, almost 6 months to the day from our first failed attempt at the Pet Partners evaluation, we completed both our Delta Society Pet Partners registration and the St. Vincent’s volunteer orientation and started visiting. It was a lot of time and effort, but well worth it.

Now we’ve been visiting every Wednesday night for about 6 months. Each week, as soon as Oscar figures out where we’re going, he drags us the rest of the way to the hospital. Oscar is a now total pro with both the elevator and the revolving doors at the entrance. We don our volunteer uniforms and badges (Oscar has his own badge too). When we get there, we find the clipboard that Edna has left for us that tells us which floor to visit and lists any special requests.

We introduce ourselves to the nursing staff and make our rounds for about an hour (any longer and Oscar starts to get antsy). Overall, Oscar is a huge hit with the patients, their visitors and the staff. Some people aren’t interested in interacting with Oscar and that’s okay. But each week, we usually get to visit with 8-10 patients. Sometimes it’s a quick visit and we just chat for a few mintues about Oscar. Other times, it obvious that the patients are really enjoying the visit and we linger a while, Oscar gets lavished with attention and petting and we show off a few of our tricks. Often, you can see the tension and pain melt from people’s faces just by petting him. Or he simply acts as a conversation starter to distract them for a few minutes from the monotany of being confined to a hospital bed.

Yes, in our short time at St. Vincent’s so far, we’ve had some amazing visits - a woman hugging Oscar and thanking us profusely, with tears running down her face - a 70 year-old man who told us he had been afraid of dogs all his life and ended up asking Oscar for “kisses” several times. But every week, we’re greatful for the even the smallest sign that Oscar is making a difference….a smile, a thank you, some tender petting.

We rarely know why the patients are in the hospital, and we’re not medical professionals, but our prescription??

Take one therapy dog and call us in the morning.