Heavenly Healing Hounds of St Agnes

25 Dec 07

No one ever really wants to be in a hospital. Unless, of course, if you’re a special kind of healing hound that volunteers to work in hospitals, like the heavenly healing hounds of Fresno’s Saint Agnes Hospital. Awoof!

Volunteer specially trained dogs of all sizes and shapes have regular visiting hours at St Agnes’ Hospital. They are there four days a week to lift the spirits of patients and staff alike.

You see, the newest thing in health care is ‘pet therapy’ — and dogs like Adrienne, a lovely yellow labrador, are doing their part by doing the rounds and dishing out the therapy of the puppyheart.

Adrienne is one of seven Heavenly Hounds of St. Agnes. And the patients, like Bob Rudzik, thin she’s “swell.” Which just about says it all. What a pretty baby, he croons.

But Adrienne is more than a pretty face. She was raised as a guide dog, but a minor health issue sidelined her from that job. Her trainer said that “she needed a career because she was trained with a career so I wanted her to have another career.”

Susie Kuszmar, the Director of Spiritual Care at St. Agnes is happy to have her therapy hounds for the good of the patients: “Things feel so foreign here and there are so many anxieties and a lot of times when a dog walks in it’s like - Oh, it’s a little bit of home. It just kind of lowers blood pressure, in fact it’s proven to lower blood pressure and stress levels in patients.”

The staff perk up too. One of the nurses confessed that “It’s really great to take a five minute break and just be with the dog.”

To comply with health regulations all the health hounds are perfectly groomed. They all arrive squeaky clean with calm, obedient dispositions. Susie Kuszmar is firm about this. All dogs have to be bathed and clean when they arrive, and they have to be very well trained. Which probably rules me out of contenders in this very worthy cause.

Another downside is that kisses are outlawed.

Dogs are not supposed to kiss but being dogs they sneak one it every once in awhile. And in the grand scheme of things a stolen houndish kiss is probably the best medicine of all.

St. Agnes would like to have as many as twenty therapy dogs visiting patients seven days a week covering as many shifts as possible. So if you happen to live in Fresno, and want to find out more about the Heavenly Hounds click here and contact Susie Kuszmar, Director of Spiritual Care.

Super Woof to the healing hounds of St Agnes’ hospital!

Awoof! Archibald