Specially trained therapy dogs are creature comfort to grateful hospice patients.
By PHIL DAVIS
Published October 23, 2005
[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]
MaryLou Parmer, right, of Zephyrhills, lies with her poodle, Gracie Jane, as she looks over at Chivas and his owner, Mary Ann Brown, of Groveland, during therapy dog certification at a Dade City nursing home Tuesday. Gracie Jane and Parmer will visit dying patients as part of Hernando-Pasco Hospice's Compassionate Paws program.
DADE CITY - Gracie Jane had a rough start in life. A janitor found the bedraggled, undernourished puppy outside Zephyrhills High School last spring.
A student said someone tossed the miniature poodle out of a car. School volunteer MaryLou Parmer took the dog home and cleaned her up.
Now Gracie Jane is going to help people through tough times at the end of their lives.
On Tuesday, 1-year-old Gracie Jane passed a series of tests at a Dade City nursing home and earned certification as a therapy dog.
When her Therapy Dogs International Inc. photo ID badge arrives in a few weeks, Gracie Jane and Parmer will begin visiting dying patients as part of Hernando-Pasco Hospice's Compassionate Paws program.
"Considering what she's been through, she's very lovable and outgoing," said Parmer of Zephyrhills.
Pets are good medicine. It's a medical fact backed up by decades of research. Animals are used to boost morale in cancer patients and help people work through painful rehabilitation. A 1999 study found pets were more effective than medication alone in controlling New York stockbrokers' high blood pressure in stressful situations.
Rebecca Bennett, a volunteer program specialist, started the Hernando-Pasco Hospice therapy dog program in April. She now has 16 dogs visiting hospice patients in Pasco and Hernando counties. Bennett said she saw the benefits of pet therapy firsthand during her residency at a New York hospital. She thought it fit well with the warm, home environment hospice tries to create for its patients.
"The benefits of hospice are a little different, because we're not looking to a specific therapeutic goal," Bennett said. "Our goal is more emotional - really just to make them smile and be happy. We're just trying to boost their spirits."
Passing the test
Not every dog can be a therapy dog.
Gracie Jane had to pass a series of tests to get a certification from Therapy Dogs International Inc. before she can join the hospice program. The certificate includes $1-million in liability insurance.
At a recent certification event at Royal Oaks Nursing Center in Dade City, Gracie was among six dogs getting checked out by Therapy Dogs International volunteers Connie Beck and Mimi Salton, both of Hernando. Gracie and another poodle, Yvette, were trying out for the hospice program.
Beck and Salton tried to rattle the dogs with loud noises, bouncing tennis balls, wheelchairs and other distractions. They also checked the dogs for good grooming. Long toenails can penetrate thin skin. The dogs also had to pass the pill test.
Beck dropped a dog treat and each dog had to walk past without gobbling it up.
"Medications get dropped," Beck said. "You don't want them picking up a pill."
All six dogs passed the tests and will go on to various programs at hospitals, nursing homes and even a juvenile detention facility.
"You're just the thing on the other end of the leash," Beck told the owners. "Sorry, but the dogs are the main attraction."
That's a boon to volunteers. It's not always easy to engage a dying person in light conversation.
"The dogs are a focal point," Bennett said.
"Their eyes light up'
Only a few of the residents at Forest Glen assisted living facility in New Port Richey are hospice patients. But most residents like to see the dogs. They bake gourmet canine cookies for the therapy dogs that make weekly visits.
"Their eyes light up," Forest Glen activities director Hope Boloyan said of the residents' reactions to canine visitors. "Some that you just can't reach just perk right up when you put a dog in their lap."
Hospice volunteer Carole Bourassa brings her Yorkies, Gracie and Abby, to the home every Tuesday. The dogs are often in costume. Last week, both dogs wore witch outfits for Halloween.
"They don't mind the clothes," Bourassa confides. "They hate the hats."
On Thursday, nurses and volunteers managed to stack three small dogs in Helen Kandl's lap. The 85-year-old hospice patient smiled as one tried to lick her face.
"I love them," Kandl said.
When asked how often the dogs come to visit, Kandl replied: "Well, not enough."
Over by the television, 64-year-old hospice patient Lenora Bosca-Scott smiled sleepily as Lily, a toy poodle, then Gracie and Abby took turns in her lap.
"I like them," Bosca-Scott said, softly. "They're comfortable."
Phil Davis can be reached at 869-6247 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is pdavis@sptimes.com
CONTACT
For information on the therapy dog program, contact Rebecca Bennett, volunteer program specialist at Hernando-Pasco Hospice at (800) 486-8784.
