HARRISBURG, Pa. — A hospital in Harrisburg is offering a pet therapy program to help support patients.
Therapy dogs at UPMC Children’s in Harrisburg are making a difference.
Nine-year-old, Norah Alden from Camp Hill, was diagnosed with pneumonia recently. She needed immediate treatment but was surprised that a furry one made a huge difference.
“When I heard that the dogs were coming, I felt happy and very excited that I get to have dogs with me and be able to pet them,” said Norah.
Alden’s dad says they have two dogs at home, and he believes the therapy dogs are helping Norah to get better.
“It’s emotional when you have a child that is healthy and then you find out they’re sick and they need additional treatment and you as a parent can’t really do anything. For me, to have this here really helps one see that her energy levels are growing and she’s doing better,” said Ryan Alden.
The child life specialist at UPMC Children’s in Harrisburg says that these therapy dogs help to bring home to the hospital. “Having dogs here, because most of our patients have pets at home, makes this place less stressful, more normal, and they can bring comfort that medicines and people can’t,” said Sandy Schreffler.
UPMC’s pet therapy program with KPETS brings 15 dogs to the hospital throughout the week.
Pet therapy handler Gregg Mayberry for KPETS says the dogs don’t just make an impact on patients but staff too.
“I can’t tell you how many staff tell me at the end of that pet, you just made my day. Thank you. And we enjoy it, the boys get a lot of it. They’re 14 years old now and they’ve been doing this for 10 years and I think this job helps keep them young,” said Mayberry.
He says seeing smiles on people’s faces is one of the best parts of the job.