At Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Southwest Portland, a team of specialized healers provide help wherever they're needed.
They cheer up children in the pediatrics ward, comfort cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, and distract anxious family members outside of surgery.
These specialists haven’t gone to medical school, but they have completed extensive training and evaluations, and they wear little green vests instead of white coats.
The therapy dogs at Providence St. Vincent have been providing furry comfort to patients and family members since 1997.
“Our Pet Partners play an important role in easing the way for our patients,” says Diane Kutcher, the hospital’s director of volunteer services. “Hospitals have long recognized the comfort provided to patients by visiting dogs.”
Plenty of research supports the idea that animal-assisted therapy can make a positive impact on patients.
One recent study published in the American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine indicated that cancer patients who received visits from therapy dogs during chemotherapy reported less pain, improved sleep and increased appetite. The patients also said they felt less lonely and isolated.
Another study published in the September 2010 issue of the journal Anthrozoos found that animal-assisted therapy decreased blood pressure and reduced anxiety among hospitalized children.
Aside from benefits they provide to patients, the dogs also console nervous loved ones, sniffing out the waiting rooms for those in need of some canine consolation.
In the surgery waiting area recently, Portland resident Linda Mierau took comfort in patting Dylan, a Golden retriever/Lab mix.
“I was wishing I had somebody sitting with me, so this is nice,” she says.
Dylan and his handler, Priscilla Walker, typically spend the bulk of their time visiting cancer patients and their families.
“I chose that because my father had cancer,” Walker says. “He passed away about 16 years ago, but he loved dogs, and I know that if he had had a dog visit him while he was having his [chemotherapy] infusions, he would have just loved that.”
All the dogs at Providence are registered through
The most essential quality a prospective therapy dog should possess is a good demeanor - a "people dog" who enjoys being around humans.
“You can train a dog to do all kinds of things, but you can’t really train it to have the temperament,” says volunteer Marcy Lowy, owner of 10-year-old Portuguese water dog, Willy. “They’re born with it.”
While the dogs at Providence St. Vincent are all calm and well-behaved, each brings his or her own personality and "skill sets.”
They range from Noah, a 110-pound Great Pyrenees, Maremma sheepdog and giant Schnauzer mix, to Lucy, a 4.5-pound long-haired Chihuahua.
“Lucy is portable,” says her owner, Aloha resident Florence Kawai. “Most people like her to just sit on their stomach, if they’re lying down, or on their neck. She doesn’t mind where.”
Lucy is also hospice-certified, and her tiny size allows her to snuggle with even the most fragile patients.
The pair makes the rounds on their weekly visits, stopping first in the surgery waiting area, then on to ICU and the emergency room.
They’ll stop by for anyone who wants to say hello, but they also have a number of “repeat patients” who enjoy their regular visits.
“We come in the evenings,” Kawai says, “so by the time the family leaves, that means we’re available to keep them company.”
Noah, on the other hand, is serious and empathetic. His height puts him right at eye level with a hospital bed’s occupant.
Connie McFall and her bichon frise, Missy May, visit patients and their families at Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel every Monday.
That makes him good in pediatrics – “kids love him,” says owner Terry McCabe - and for people in wheelchairs.
“The only thing that’s a disadvantage is that he’s also at the height of the food trays,” she says.
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Other area hospitals have also harnessed the healing power of pets.
Oregon Health & Science University has had an animal-assisted therapy program in place for about 20 years.
The hospital currently “employs” 10 dog-handlers teams and one cat-handler team.
They work in most hospital units, except for operating rooms and bone marrow transplant units.
Teams must be registered with Pet Partners or another organization that requires a temperament, skills and health evaluation.
This summer, Kaiser Permanente launched its Thrive Therapy Dogs program at the Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro.
Legacy Health's pet therapy program began about 20 years ago at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center by chaplain Judith Meckling.
The health system now offers pet therapy programs at most of its six medical centers in Portland and Southwest Washington.
Legacy physicians prescribe pet therapy services when they deem it appropriate.
Sometimes, though, pets are just what the doctor ordered for a patient’s anxious loved ones.
Volunteer Connie McFall visits pediatric patients at Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel every Monday with her fluffy bichon frise, Missy May.
The dog’s teddy bear-like appearance provides a welcome distraction for the patient’s nervous family members, often generating pet-related conversations.
“It just creates a joyful atmosphere,” McFall says. “It’s far more rewarding than I ever thought it would be.”
To become a Pet Partners therapy animal team:
Complete a handler course, complete registration and health screening and pass a team evaluation. Oregon Humane Society regularly offers handler courses and team evaluations in order to be registered through Pet Partners.
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Providence Pet Partners calendars:
Providence St. Vincent Medical Center features its Pet Partners dogs in a 2014 calendar, available for $10 in the hospital gift store, 9205 S.W. Barnes Road in Portland. Proceeds from the calendar benefit the Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation.
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