A house fire robbed Emma* of her mobility and her hope.
Eighty-five percent of her body was covered with severe
burns, including her face. Gone were the ends of all 10
fingers and the lower half of both legs.
Shari Bernard-Curran, OTR, remembers when Emma first
came to the skilled nursing facility. Severe
contractures kept the 60-something woman in constant
pain. And she couldn't lie on her stomach or her back.
Heavily medicated and listless, Emma rarely spoke and
wasn't alert. One day while sitting outside, Emma
spotted a therapy dog trotting by. Lifting her head, she
smiled and yelled, "Hey, bring that dog with the cute
butt back!" The dog—named Delight—was a bit overweight
and waddled, said Bernard-Curran, executive director of
Texas-based Therapet Animal-assisted Therapy Foundation,
a nonprofit animal-assisted therapy organization that
provides certification standards for animals,
volunteers, health care professionals and facilities.
"I didn't even think to bring in a therapy dog for her
because she had so many open wounds," Bernard-Curran
said. "But when Delight came back, she just laughed and
laughed. We started animal-assisted therapy soon after."
Emma's transformation was amazing, said Bernard-Curran.
She worked with the dogs every day, coming early to
therapy and staying late. "It was incredible. She was so
severely injured, unresponsive and didn't seem to care
about anything. With the dogs, she would just smile and
laugh the whole time," said Bernard-Curran. "Throughout
her therapy, she worked with more than 50 dogs, but she
still visits and asks for Delight."
Animals to Motivate
Emma is one of many patients in U.S. long-term care
facilities who experienced the benefits of
animal-assisted therapy (AAT), said Bernard-Curran,
whose foundation helps facilities set up programs across
the county. AAT uses domesticated animals—usually dogs,
cats, rabbits and birds—as a therapeutic modality to
treat patients with physical or psychiatric problems,
explained Bernard-Curran.
AAT must be provided by a credentialed therapist,
whether it's a nurse, PT, OT, SLP, recreation therapist,
social worker or mental health professional, to be
considered a therapeutic modality, said Ann Howie, ACSW,
who is AAT services director at Delta Society®—a
nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the
therapeutic and service role of animals in human
health—in Renton, WA.
Like Bernard-Curran, Howie also has seen improvements in
patients like Emma. She remembered Jean*, a stroke
survivor, who was embarrassed about her lack of function
and resisted therapy. But she did want to see the dog.
"She agreed to come to therapy and throw the ball for
the dog once," Howie said. "She struggled, and the ball
only went 2 to 3 feet. After that, she demanded to go
back to her room. Well, the dog refused to retrieve the
ball—even though he was trained to, no matter how far
the ball was thrown. So, we focused on what was wrong
with the dog."
Jean agreed to try again and again until the dog
retrieved the ball. "When the focus shifted off of her,"
Howie said, "she relaxed and had a tremendous workout."
Animals to Encourage
Along with providing physical benefits, AAT also offers
emotional ones. In fact, research shows positive social
behavior changes after introducing an animal in a
nursing home, according to a study by Mercy College,
Dobbs Ferry, NY, Corson and Corson (1978)1 found a
decrease in the patients' loneliness and social
withdrawal, and an increase in positive interactions
between the staff and residents.
Seeing a staff member—who up to that point only
delivered a needle stick—laugh and play with an animal
makes him human, said Howie. "The next time he comes in
with the needle, it might not be as emotionally painful
and tense for the resident."
Bernard-Curran, whose mother has severe Alzheimer's and
is practically nonverbal, knows firsthand the emotional
and social benefits of AAT. "She won't even talk to me,
but I can take a therapy dog with me and she'll start
talking and reminiscing … Residents of nursing homes
don't have much of their past with them …When working
with [an] animal, they speak more and try a little
harder," she said.
Graham agreed: "It's uplifting for residents. They smile
and laugh. We have one resident whose facial muscles
droop due to a CVA. As a result, he doesn't smile much,"
she said. "During AAT, we put a dog treat in his hand,
and the dog came up and [licked] his hand. He started
laughing; I hadn't seen [that] expression on his face
for a long time."
Although AAT and animal visits help residents in many
ways, safety concerns exist. Sources recommend using
only certified therapy animals that are
temperament-tested and obedience-trained so they remain
calm in stressful situations.
Of all the animals, dogs are used most often because
they follow verbal commands and tolerate rough or clumsy
petting well, said Bernard-Curran. Ninety-five percent
of her foundation's therapy animals are dogs.
*names have been changed.
Reference
1. Perelle, I.B. & Granville, D.A. Assessment of the
effectiveness of a pet facilitated therapy program in a
nursing home setting. Accessed via
http://arrs.envirolink.org/psyeta/sa/sa1.1/perelle.
*For information on how to start AAT programs contact
the Delta Society at (800) 869-6898 or
www.deltasocirty.org; Therapet Animal-assisted Therapy
Foundation at www.therapet.com or InterMountain Therapy
Animals at (877) 485-1131.
