CLEVELAND — When 2-year-old chocolate labrador Starbucks and golden retriever Melena aren’t enjoying play time with one another or chomping on their favorite treats, they‘re hard at work, being a source of comfort and support for the children at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.
Registered nurse Gabi Barth works 40 hours a week at the hospital’s child and adolescent psychiatry unit and so does Melena, her dog and four-legged co-worker.
“I go to pull the medications and she comes with me. And then in the morning, I greet all the kids and bring her in the room with me. So, when they wake up they get to see a dog, and they get to get their medications. and then she goes to a lot of meetings throughout the day,” Barth said.
Melena also tags along with her handlers Lisa Perry and Stephanie Smith in the pediatric hematology and oncology division.
“The hospital, to many people coming in, seems like a very sterile and uninviting and cold environment, and the dogs offer some normalcy in their everyday lives and warmth that we don’t usually find at the hospital,“ said Lisa Perry, a certified child life specialist.
Hospital staff say Melena and Starbucks make a world of difference when it comes to patient comfort and compliance.
“As soon as we bring the dog in and give them something to physically focus on, give them something to make helping them calm and take away that anxiety, all of a sudden they mastered the ability to hold their arm still for an IV,” said Stephanie Smith, a certified child life specialist.
Through the hospital’s Pet Pals Healing Paws program, many animals have walked the hallways of this hospital. But Melena and Starbucks are its first permanent four-legged additions. Diane Pekarek is the Pet Pals Healing Paws coordinator, and says these dogs were trained specifically for UH Rainbow.
“At day three, they start handling them and exposing them to sounds and smells and sights so that they’re very competent. Then they go on training in a process that’s called bond-based training. They’re not trained to sit, stay, heel maybe like your average, police or service dog. They’re trained to have heart and use their brains themselves without having to be told what to do,” Pekarek said.
Hospital staff say Starbucks and Melena’s presence at the hospital is even more beneficial to patients and health care workers, with COVID-19 visitor and volunteer restrictions in place.
“They just, they just bring the love and the simplicity and the silliness that we all need right now,” Pekarek said.
