SAN DIEGO — Dogs have an amazing healing power and Rady Children’s Hospital wants to provide that medicine for its young patients.
It’s common practice among children’s hospitals to have a medical dog unit. Although Rady Children’s is ranked one of the top ten children’s hospitals in the country, they do not have their own resident, medical dog program.
CBS 8 spoke with Children's Hospital Colorado which says its medical dog program has done wonders for pediatric medicine.
Ralph Lauren was the first M-D at Children’s Hospital Colorado, which stands for Medical Dogtor.
He was a working canine who was integrated in a young patient’s treatment plans.
“While on the outside to others that may look like a dog laying in a bed or walking next to a child, we’re helping them be motivated to take their first walks, after surgery or to help have a dog in the bed during a really hard conversation of a new diagnosis,” said Sarah Scott, Child Life Specialist & Facility Dog Program Coordinator at Children's Hospital Colorado.
The hospital launched its medical dog program in 2019 and now they have six specially trained dogs that give pediatric patients the confidence to keep fighting.
“I’ve watched patient’s heart rates come down and level out by having interactions with a dog,” said Scott. “I’ve watched patients begin to believe in themselves in their healing journey and feel motivated because they get to take galaxy for a walk or because Galaxy’s waiting for them at the end of the hallway."
Rady Children’s Hospital understands starting the program in San Diego will also come at a cost.
CBS 8 and Rady Children’s are Working FUR Kids and partnering to fundraise enough money to start its own program in San Diego with three professional medically trained dogs.
“This is not something that insurance will ever cover. Philanthropy needs to come in our community needs to rally around this to be able to make it happen,” said Alex Loker, V.P. of Philanthropy at Rady Children’s Hospital.
The dogs will be paired with a child life specialists to work with and care for the dogs full-time and they need your help to sustain the program.
The canines will go through two years of extensive training to work in a hospital setting. They will be treated like employees and have their own badge and get lunch breaks.
“It often surprises people how expensive it can be because you really want to set up this program to be in existence long term,” said Scott.
Similar to Colorado the professional canine therapy unit is funded entirely by donations.
“Our program wouldn’t exist without our donors. And to have a program like this in a hospital requires buy in and belief from the community around us,” said Scott.
The medical canine team works in collaboration in all units of the hospital including patients with limited mobility in the ICU.
“Patients who have just received a heart transplant or a liver transplant or are limited in their ability to get out of a bed, we can have our dogs be a part of that process,” said Scott.
Dogtor Kit is also a yoga instructor.
“It’s amazing to see the ways that patients can respond when they’re working on breathwork. And they can put their hand on Kit's stomach and feel her breathing to kind of help measure their own breathing,” said Scott.
The medical dogs also help healthcare workers stay focused and grounded.
“When they’re facing hard days, just sitting on the floor and putting their arms around one of our dogs we’ve seen really empowers them to feel that they can return back to work in more of a grounded place,” said Scott.
Dogtor Ralph Lauren retired in 2021, but his other pals in the medical dog program at Children’s Hospital Colorado are still hard at work providing a unique healing power.
“Dogs speak a language with kids that we as humans cannot speak and they provide a level of support that we as humans cannot provide,” said Scott.
Working Fur Kids is an effort to help raise funds in collaboration with the public, to start a professional canine therapy program at Rady Children’s here in San Diego. Please consider making a monetary donation to kickstart this essential program that will help ease the pain and suffering of children who are patients at Rady Children’s Hospital, California’s largest non-profit children’s hospital.
WATCH RELATED: Help Rady Children's launch a professional canine therapy program | Working Fur Kids