Sudbury, Ont., hospital expands therapy dog program that benefits patients and staff

Health Sciences North in Sudbury, Ont., is expanding a therapy dog program that benefits both patients and staff.

The program was on hold for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now therapy dogs and their handlers visit 18 floors in the hospital.

"Each visit is probably anywhere from an hour to two hours," said Rita Terry, who has been the program's co-ordinator for 37 years.

"I have contacts on the different floors so I schedule it to visit them once a month."

Terry said 20 dogs are in the program. She and other volunteers will normally bring six to eight dogs with them for a visit.

It doesn't matter where we go, seldom do we have someone that objects to a dog.- Rita Terry

"The dogs are so happy to be there."

Terry said the hospital's volunteer services lead, Tannys Laughren, is a dog lover and has spearheaded expanding it to more units, ranging from the emergency department to the cancer clinic.

"When we're in the lobby we meet people and they say, 'Oh, thank you so much for this. You just made my day,'" Terry said.

"It doesn't matter where we go, seldom do we have someone that objects to a dog."

But she added they do get consent from patients before they bring in a therapy dog, in case a person is allergic or doesn't like dogs.

New research shows therapy dogs benefit both patients and staff in a health-care setting.

Alexandria Pavelich is a PhD student and researcher with the University of Saskatchewan's One Health and Wellness office.

Pavelich has been working with the St. John Ambulance therapy dog program in Saskatoon to measure the positive effect the canines have on patients and staff.

"The science shows that if you pet a dog for only like two to three minutes this also applies to cats you can actually decrease your cortisol levels which are your stress hormones," Pavelich said.

"So a lot of people coming in with panic attacks, they're immediately getting benefits."

Benefits for medical staff

But Pavelich and her colleagues found the dogs' had just as great an impact on medical staff like doctors, nurses and paramedics.

"The second they do see the dog, they start smiling and they're telling me all about how it's giving the staff really something fun to look forward to and just a nice break for a few minutes on their shift," she said.

"The amount of times that we've heard this made my shift or this made my day, and especially for the paramedics. They say a lot of things like, you know, 'This is exactly what I needed,' after they've come in from a really difficult shift."

She said the therapy dogs have also helped nurses and doctors do their jobs better.

In one case, she said, a therapy dog helped calm down a man who was admitted because he was in emotional distress.

"The nurse eventually approached us to say we had saved her almost two hours of work because we had already kind of de-escalated the patient for her."

The man was discharged from the hospital one hour after his time with the therapy dog.

"I think the big thing is just that people are slowly starting to recognize how important and impactful the human animal bond is in terms of healing activities," Pavelich said.

"This is especially so for people who maybe live alone and they don't have a support network, but this dog or this cat, whatever pet it may be, that really is a huge support for them."