Courtesy of Perscription Pet Program	K-9 Correspondents Proof Paws-itive Additional Pet Therapy Resources on the Web
Dogs of all shapes and sizes roam the halls of The Children's Hospital in Denver with their handlers, carrying "business cards" so young patients can remember their names.

The 12-year-old cancer patient had just been told that her leukemia had returned, and she was angry. She slammed the door on her parents, her nurses and her doctors, refusing to see or talk to any of them. She threw things across her hospital room and sobbed in frustration.

One of the girl's nurses at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., contacted Becky Jankowski, MS, RN, program coordinator for Pawsitive Therapy Troupe, the hospital's animal-assisted activity and therapy program. "Would you try?" the nurse asked. "Maybe she'll see the dog."

Jankowski arrived at the girl's room with her sheltie Rosie, a certified therapy dog. As Jankowski opened the door, Rosie peeked around the corner.

"Would you like to see Rosie today?" Jankowski asked. The girl, her face puffy and tear-streaked, said yes. Jankowski put Rosie on the girl's bed. The girl stroked the sheltie's soft fur. She talked to the dog and to Jankowski about what a difficult time she was having and how upset she was.

After about 20 minutes, Jankowski asked if the girl wanted to see her mother. She said she did, and eventually she was ready to face the doctors and nurses as well.

"It really made me feel like I had made a difference that day," said Jankowski, who owns two therapy dogs she uses in her work at Loyola and nearby Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital. "Patients will tell the dog things they won't tell people. They will hug her and rock her and tears will stream down their faces. She touches people in ways that humans can't."

In the last decade, a growing number of hospitals have been using animals, especially dogs, to calm, reassure, motivate and help rehabilitate patients.

At Northern California Shriners Hospital, dogs, cats and even potbellied pigs stroll the halls and help distract nervous kids in clinic waiting rooms and hospital rooms. Nurse researchers in Texas have shown how dogs calm agitated Alzheimer's patients when staff members at long-term care facilities cannot.

Amazing response

Nurses who work with animal therapy programs, whether as researchers, program coordinators, handlers or frontline caregivers with patients who might benefit from an animal visit or therapy, say the response from patients and staff is amazing.

"It's a wonderful thing for us as nurses," said Norine Hemphill, RN, a clinical director in neurosurgery, orthopedics and neurotrauma rehabilitation at The Children's Hospital in Denver. Her hospital's program, Prescription Pets, was launched 17 years ago, one of the first in the country. Dogs of all shapes and sizes roam the halls with their handlers, carrying "business cards" so young patients can remember their names.

"They're chilled-out dogs," Hemphill said. "They just sit there and let these kids pet them. We love to see what it does for the kids. When a kid is hurting, it's a distraction. It helps them forget" why they're in the hospital.

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