Hospitals welcome man’s best friends (and cats, too)

CEDAR RAPIDS - Animal-assisted activities and therapies for patients in hospitals and other medical facilities can have numerous benefits, such as easing anxiety and loneliness, but their use also raise health concerns about spreading infection or possibly injuring patients.

To prevent any negative effects, area hospitals have put together general policies to reduce the risk to patients while still providing the benefits of visits with animals.

UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Hospital and Mercy Medical Center have policies for animal therapies and pet visits, in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The guidelines require that animals be registered and that hospital staff and owner volunteers follow procedures to prevent the spread of infections.

Types of therapy

Animal therapies in hospitals and other facilities such as nursing homes can take multiple forms.

The most common is when patients get a chance to interact with animals and talk with the animal's owners.

The second is animal-assisted therapies, in which animals are used during treatments such as physical or occupational therapies.

Some patients also are able to have their pets from home visit them in the hospital.

Certification

Both Cedar Rapids hospitals require that therapy animals be certified through either Pet Partners or Therapy Dogs International, non-profit organizations that test and register therapy animals and their owners. They also require owners to go through the hospital's volunteer training or orientation.

Additionally, the hospitals regulate the kinds of therapy animals that can work in the facilities.

Mercy allows only dogs in its animal therapy program, while St. Luke's will not allow certain species that might more easily spread disease. St. Luke's has a therapy cat in addition to dogs. Volunteer coordinator Chris Montross said a miniature horse also visited in the past, and other domesticated animals such as rabbits are allowed.

Both hospitals also have sanitary procedures to reduce the risk of the animals spreading infections. Animals' nails must be trimmed to prevent them from scratching patients, and they must bathe within 24 hours of a hospital visit.

Mike Dooley of Marion and his dog, a Labrador retriever named Tucker, have been with the St. Luke's animal therapy program since it began about 10 years ago. Dooley said he goes through the regular grooming routine required by Pet Partners and the hospital before bringing Tucker to visit patients each week.

Dooley said he puts in the work to be a volunteer because both he and Tucker like the work.

'I enjoy doing it, maybe selfish reasons in a way,” he says. 'Someone once said that if you bring sunshine to people, you can't help but get a little on yourself. So, for that reason, I enjoy it just as much as (Tucker) does, I think. It makes for a nice day.”

Some Restrictions

Mercy and St. Luke's do not allow therapy animals around some of the most vulnerable patients in areas such as isolation rooms.

Judy Schimek, Mercy's volunteer coordinator, also said the hospital is not comfortable having animal visitors in intensive care and with post-surgery patients in orthopedics.

Schimek says she has never seen any health issues caused by therapy animals at Mercy, adding the program is very popular with patients, especially returning patients who often ask to see the animals again.

Montross recalls only one minor injury caused by a therapy animal at St. Luke's. A cat's nails caused a minor skin tear, but it did not lead to infection. Montross says their animal therapy program also is popular among patients but can benefit staff as well.

'The pets are as good for the employees and associates and some of the volunteers throughout the building as they are for the patients and families,” Montross says. 'It relieves a lot of stress and tensions and anxieties, and we see a lot of neat things come as a result of that.”