Wanted: Furry four-legged friends for Bayhealth's pet therapy program

Beth Peterson loves sharing her pet therapy dogs with patients at the Bayhealth Medical Centers in Dover and Milford.

She barely makes it in the door before someone stops to pet her specially trained canines or chats her up about how cute they are.

That's why Peterson allows plenty of time to visit patients, family members and staff twice a week at the two Bayhealth campuses and other medical and nursing facilities on the Delmarva Penninsula.

Peterson and her four-legged friends are part of Bayhealth's expanding Pet-Assisted Visitation or pet therapy program, started in 2004 when teams of trained volunteers and dogs started visiting patients in their rooms. 

Peterson was part of that beginning and is now the regional director of the organization – Delmarva Region of the nonprofit National Capital Therapy Dogs, Inc. – that teaches and trains volunteers and their pets for the program. 

All pet therapy volunteers and dogs are certified through the National Capital Therapy Dog Program. 

"I first did this when I was 15 years old and we had an incredible visit," said Peterson, who moved here from Michigan in 1998. "It has warmed my soul ever since."

She's hoping even more volunteers will take the training to help the popular program remain strong, especially with the opening of the new Milford hospital in 2019. Currently, there are 30 teams (pet and owner) at the Dover campus and nine in Milford.

Peterson said that throughout the 14 years she's been a part of Bayhealth's pet therapy program, she has seen the benefits of therapy dogs visiting patients, family and staff. 

"We come in and their faces light up," she said. "There have been times when patients hear a therapy dog walking down the hall and they will yell out 'visit me, visit me.'" 

Research has shown that pet therapy improves physical health by lowering blood pressure and curtailing pain. Peterson said the act of petting an animal lifts spirits, lowers anxiety, and reduces tension, among other benefits. 

But patients and staff aren't the only ones who get something from the visits. Peterson said she and her three therapy dogs – Mouse (Pomeranian mix), Jack (Canaan) and Kitten (German Shepherd) – reap the rewards as well.

"My dogs love the attention," Peterson said. "And for me, to see how much good a visit does is just heart-warming."

Peterson said there have been too many memorable moments to name them all, but she recalls one time when a 3-year-old cancer patient wanted to walk her dog, which was an unusual request. So she hooked up a second leash and the little boy went "speeding up and down the hall."

"His parents came in and told me how great it was and how happy it made him," Peterson recalls. "It was a wonderful time for everybody."

Peterson said Bayhealth has honor cards where if a patient is really happy with the service, they will write in. She said the pet therapy program receives dozens and dozens of these "special tributes."

Volunteers also receive personalized letters. One, in particular, touched Peterson. She fondly recalls a cancer patient whose diagnosis was pretty severe but who loved having her dogs visit each week.

Peterson said the patient's wife wrote her a letter saying how much he enjoyed the attention from her dogs and that the visits made everything easier for him in his final days.

"Those are the ones you cherish," she said.

Bayhealth officials say the growth of the pet therapy program includes the expansion of teams visiting nonclinical Bayhealth employee areas in an effort to reduce stress and boost staff mood.

For Susan Barnes, that is welcomed news. The patient information specialist who sits at the front desk greeting visitors said a couple of minutes with a pet therapy dog does wonders.

"It's not only nice for the patients, but it also de-stresses the staff here, too," she said. "There are so many benefits from this program."

For her years of volunteer service in the Bayhealth pet therapy program, Peterson was honored this year with the 2018 Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Award in the Health & Special Needs category.

She was recognized for spending more than 1,600 hours visiting more than 28,000 patients, families and staff at Bayhealth and 20 other medical facilities in Delaware.

About Bayhealth's pet therapy program

• Bayhealth's pet therapy program – where specially trained dogs and certified volunteer owners visit patients and staff – was started in 2004.

• There are 30 teams (pet therapy dog and owner) that regularly visit Bayhealth's Kent Hospital in Dover and nine other teams that visit patients at the Milford campus. 

• All pet therapy volunteers and dogs are certified through the National Capital Therapy Dog Program. 

• Each pet therapy dog has its own "doggy" vest and hospital nametag, as well as a trading card with a photo on the front and the canine's statistics on the back.

• More than 1,800 hours were donated by trained pet therapy volunteers and their dogs in Fiscal Year 2018.

• More than 500 people volunteered their time in 35 Bayhealth volunteer programs in FY 2018.

• Since 1995, Bayhealth volunteers have donated more than 572,000 hours.

• Visit Bayhealth.org/Volunteer to learn more about volunteer opportunities at Bayhealth, including how to become a pet therapy volunteer.

Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.

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