Dogs on Call: Canine Companions Are Back
After a three-year absence, the Dogs On Call therapy dog program returns to Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital to enhance the health and wellness of patients and staff.
When Goldendoodle Sky walked through the halls of Mugar recently at Cape Cod Hospital (assisted by his handler, Patrick), he is greeted by nurses with an abundance of love, smiles and hugs—as well as enthusiastic comments from staff:
“The dogs are back!”
“It puts us in a good mood. Thank you!”
“We missed them.”
“The gift of a Goldendoodle!”
“Hi, my little friend.”
“OMG—look at him!”
Patrick and Sky are volunteers for “Dogs On Call,” a program that returned this month to Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital. The pet therapy program aims to bring comfort and a sense of peace to patients, visitors and staff. Requirements to be a certified therapy dog include maintaining a calm and easy-going temperament; good manners and social skills with people; and getting along with other dogs.
Goldendoodle Sky, a therapy dog with Dogs On Call, visits with staff on the Mugar floors at Cape Cod Hospital.
Handler Patrick and his Goldendoodle Sky spreads cheer to staff at Cape Cod Hospital’s Mugar Building.
Leah Hyman, lovingly referred to as the “dog lady,” launched Dogs On Call in 2019 and built up the program to 25 teams of dogs and their handlers. A year after it started, Covid unfortunately paused Dogs On Call indefinitely. “It was the worst timing because just when patients and staff needed therapy dogs the most, we weren’t allowed inside the hospitals,” says Hyman.
But on this day in early February, Hyman is excited to start up the therapy dog services once again and is looking forward to spreading cheer in the hospitals’ hallways and patients’ rooms. For the first couple of months, Hyman says the dogs will visit the nurses’ stations on the Mugar floors at Cape Cod Hospital and hold off on visiting patients until more therapy dog teams are added. Since the units are smaller at Falmouth Hospital, they will be visiting both patients and staff starting on February 14, 2023. Visits will occur every two weeks, and eventually, once or twice a week, as before.
Hyman says when her teams visit the hospitals, nurse managers leave her a sheet with instructions, detailing which patients might like a visit. If patients would like a therapy dog visit, they are required to sign a patient consent form, stating that they aren’t afraid of dogs and have no allergies.
“It’s all about bringing smiles to patients and staff,” says Hyman, who she has fond memories of volunteering with her late rescue greyhound Ruby in the Caring Canines Pet therapy program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. “If I could describe this first day back in one word, it would be ‘joy’ and it will only be multiplied when we have more teams!”
Read more about how the Dogs On Call program started at Cape Cod Healthcare.
