“People stop us everywhere we go,” said Whaley, who also is a retired nurse of more than 40 years. “It’s not just children that want to meet the dogs. It’s adults too, staff members even, and that’s our purpose, to provide support with a hug or a pet or a cuddle. Dogs are safe. They aren’t asking you medical questions or to do a treatment or to draw blood.”

Whaley started the pet therapy program at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center six years ago and has been integral in recruiting and keeping the program running, even amidst the pandemic.

“Everybody loves the dogs,” said Alison Hanna, manager of volunteer and guest services at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center. “If I could have a pet therapy program and have pets everywhere in the hospital, I would because it’s that successful. It’s a patient satisfier, but it’s an employee satisfier as well.”

Howard, a 7-year-old Briard owned by Reed, Darwin, a 5-year-old golden retriever owned by Collins, and Bailey, a 3-year-old beagle owned by Whaley, are all certified as therapy dogs through Therapy Dog International and have been approved for their important volunteer roles locally due to their temperament, testing, and love of working meeting humans.

Cards with the therapy dogs’ photos are handed out when they meet patients. Howard is a 7-year-old Briard. He recently underwent chemotherapy and had a leg amputated due to osteosarcoma.

“When people think of therapy dogs, sometimes they might think of service dogs,” said Reed. “But therapy dog training is more situational than it is obedience training. With therapy dogs, we train them in situations that they might encounter in a hospital situation, especially in the chaos. Maybe it is a code or someone is upset or crying. With a service dog, they are trained to do tasks and the public is asked not to interact with the dog in public. But with a therapy dog like Howard and Bailey and Darwin, it’s just the opposite. We want people to interact with them, to love them, to pet them and hug them.”

The dogs visit patients, family, and staff members in the hospital, ICU, and in clinics as well, with nursing staff often making requests through Hanna for a dog to visit a patient in need.

“It’s hard to put into words what these dogs do for patients,” said Whaley. “In my background as a nurse, they bring a sense of normalcy to patients, but we all also have stories and situations that have really solidified for us why we do this.”

Whaley said that she once visited a patient who was on a respirator and hadn’t responded to her family or nursing staff for several days, but when Whaley took the woman’s hand to touch her dog’s ears, the woman petted her multiple times.

“The family couldn’t believe it,” said Whaley. “They’d asked the woman to squeeze their hands, to respond to them, and she hadn’t, until there was a dog there.”

Cards with the therapy dogs’ photos are handed out when they meet patients. Darwin is a 5-year-old golden retriever.

Collins noted that Darwin has helped many patients during his time as a volunteer therapy dog.

“Darwin was asked to come in one day to visit with a man in ICU who was struggling,” said Collins. “As soon as the man saw Darwin, he began talking again and he became very animated and his mood was elevated. The man was willing to do what the nursing staff asked him to do as long as Darwin was there. We came in later that same night and visited a woman who was actively dying. I have never seen Darwin go right up to someone and lay his head on them, but we met with the family and he went up to this woman, laid his head on her and held it there for maybe longer than a minute. When he lifted his head up, she passed.”

One of the most popular stops for Howard is the Norma Schmoker Cancer Center. According to Reed and Hanna, Howard is beloved by patients as they await their appointment or cancer treatments. What makes Howard’s presence at the cancer center even more compelling is that he also just finished his own chemotherapy appointments and even had a leg amputated due to osteosarcoma.

“The patients at the cancer center always look forward to seeing Howard,” said Reed. “When he was out on medical leave for his treatments and then came back, so many people greeted us and said ‘Oh! It’s so good to see you again! We missed Howard.’ I think they can relate to him and know that they aren’t the only ones walking around with cancer and having treatments.”

Howard finished his last of six chemotherapy treatments on July 9 and is back to visiting patients at the cancer center again.

Cards with the therapy dogs’ photos are handed out when they meet patients. Bailey is a 3-year-old beagle.

Whaley and Hanna are currently recruiting for more therapy dogs to work alongside Bailey, Darwin, and Howard. Whaley was recently certified by Therapy Dog International as an evaluator and local classes for therapy dogs are being considered.

“You just can’t explain what these dogs do for people,” said Whaley. “There’s no words. Patients just take a hold of your dog and give them a big and needed hug, and that really goes a long way.”