it has been incredible to see
everybody's faces just light up when
we're walking through the halls hi this
is Elsa I brought you a friend Elsa is
our facility dog here at Texas
Children's Hospital she is incredibly
gentle and affectionate with everybody
she comes into contact with can you get
up here to come visit I was happy to see
her because I was happy that I could get
to interact with her and she made my day
because she's really loveable and sweet
good girl
we knew having a facility dog here
full-time
you know Monday through Friday would
allow us to really target that patient
population that could truly benefit and
show enhanced outcomes through work with
a therapy dog okay good girl
so Elsa and I come every day at 8
o'clock and we work until about 4:30 we
usually start seeing patients about 9:30
after we've gone through our consults
we will go room to room and do goal
oriented therapeutic interventions so we
will target patients who have been
hospitalized due to a traumatic event
as victims of abuse she's looking at you
mm-hmm
we'll also target patients who are
coping with a prolonged hospitalization
or chronic pain will also work alongside
physical therapists and occupational
therapists to provide a motivation and a
little bit of encouragement for kids we
were excited to partner with canine
assistants which is a nonprofit
organization that actually trains
service animals for both individuals and
facilities and so Elsa not only received
probably about 18 months worth of
training at the farm there at canine
assistants but what she showed
additional competencies in working with
Pediatrics they had her do what I like
to think of as a residency at Children's
Hospital of Atlanta where she was able
to do that work with specific pediatric
patients at the bedside look at her she
was like I'm gonna roll all the way over
it takes your mind off things and it
distracts you from everything going on
like the stress and all the feelings and
the thoughts that go through your head
when you have spare time to sit here and
think it does but could you see your
your child and you see the light I guess
so to speak going out of their eyes and
then when she walked in I mean she lit
up she's been excited about pool
experience again so just like any other
employee alsa she can get a little tired
sometimes and she needs her breaks
is it okay around lunchtime we'll take
her best off and just let her run and
play her head development was a great
partner to help us launch this program
they were key in really introducing this
to the shackles family who were a
wonderful match for this program because
they shared that vision it's been really
amazing to see how quickly she's adapted
to her new home here she's going to be
an amazing resource to our patients and
Families