For years now, animals have been allowed into hospitals to help patients the best way that they can: by simply being furry, friendly and full of unconditional love and acceptance.
Rachel MacQueen can attest to that and she is hoping to bring a national pet therapy organization called Therapeutic Paws to the local scene to further the benefits.
She said that her five-year-old Labrador cross, Cruzer, has helped people out in more ways than one. She related an anecdote of a woman in respiratory distress.
“Whenever she had her hand on the dog, she was calm. She wasn’t having any stress or difficulty breathing,” MacQueen said. “Another lady didn’t speak for two years and then I started visiting … she now will get out of her wheelchair. She will carry on full conversations.”
In addition to going around with Cruzer to visit nursing homes, MacQueen also became a major proponent of Therapeutic Paws when she lived in Ontario. Now that she lives back in Alberta, she wants to keep the momentum moving forward, one paw and wagging tail at a time.
There is some work to be done in order for the organization to make tracks in the west. This is one of the few provinces that doesn’t already have a chapter.
The organization’s website (found at www.tpoc.ca) states that, “The medical establishment recognizes the benefits of therapy dog and cat programs.” Connections with pets, it continues, “helps to calm agitated residents and stimulates wonderful conversations.”
It also suggests that recovering from surgeries is accelerated with the continued contact of a therapeutic pet. MacQueen also works as one of the organization’s evaluators, someone who determines how sociable and appropriate prospective pets are for visits.
Mostly, it’s just dogs, she added.
“I haven’t done any cats yet. Cats are a little bit of a different story,” she laughed.
MacQueen added that there is a program called Paws to Read that allows kids with reading difficulties to read to child certified pets. This allows them to boost their confidence and literacy at the same time.
“The feedback we have gotten said that when the peer pressure factor was removed, and it’s just the child and the pet, the children accelerate and are reading much more effectively than in front of class, teacher or reading group.”
Some animals are even going into universities and colleges during exam time, just to offer pet relief to those that have test anxiety.
All that MacQueen needs to get Therapeutic Paws get off the ground in St. Albert is more support from other interested parties, whether they have an animal that they would like evaluated or are interested in helping behind the scenes as well.
She is aiming for a May start date but needs to have 16 pet and owner teams in place before that time.
To learn more or to express interest in helping MacQueen, people are encouraged to get in contact with the organization via the website, by calling 613-632-6502 or via email at [email protected].
