Patients & VisitorsSupport Services for Families Facility and Therapy Dog Programs
Facility and Therapy Dog Programs
A hospital therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide comfort and support to patients and staff in hospitals. Certified therapy dogs are usually accompanied by their handlers, who visit hospital rooms and interact with patients in a calming and supportive way. Lurie Children’s is proud to offer pet therapy to our patients and families both through our facility dog program and our animal assisted therapy program.
NutriSource Facility Dog Program
Facility dogs are raised to help support interventions led by Lurie Children’s Child Life Specialists. These dogs help patients and their families cope with challenging medical situations, procedures and overcome stress that they may experience during a hospital stay. Facility dogs are specifically trained and are an intentional part of the child life team with very specific intervention and coping plans.
Some ways in which our facility dog works at Lurie Children’s:
- Provides preparation and support for procedures
- Uses medical play to normalize the hospital environment
- Teaches skills like medication compliance
- Motivates patients to reach ambulation goals as well as many other child life interventions
Meet Hawk
Hawk is Lurie Children’s facility dog. Hawk is a full-time employee, working 40 hours per week Monday through Friday alongside his Certified Child Life Specialist Handler. Child Life Specialists help patients cope with the stressors of being hospitalized by elevating their emotional safety needs.
Hawk is a Gold Retriever who received extensive training by Canine Assistants from the time he was 8 weeks until he was 15 months old. Hawk’s handler spent a week training at Canine Assistant’s facility to prepare for providing services at Lurie Children’s.
If you have questions about Hawk or the NutriSource Facility Dog Program, please contact our Family Services team at 312.227.1200.
Thank You to Our NutriSource Facility Dog Program Sponsors
Animal Assisted Therapy Dogs
Animal therapy promotes a general feeling of well-being, reduces isolation and anxiety, provides recreation, and offers unconditional affection. Lurie Children’s has a long-standing partnership with Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy and Rainbow’s trained volunteer/certified therapy dog teams provide weekly hour-long pet therapy visits in select areas with Lurie Children’s Activity Coordinators.
Rainbow focuses on animal assisted therapy, using dogs to facilitate healing and rehabilitation in a therapeutic setting. The dog plays an important part in someone’s physical, social, and emotional therapy activities.
If you have questions about our pet therapy program, please contact our Family Services team at 312.227.1200.