Therapy dog teams visit area hospital

Panhandle Area Community Therapies (PACT) therapy dogs program recently brought some joy to the staff at Southwest Medical Center Hospital in Liberal, KS.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic it became almost impossible to get teams into hospitals and nursing homes. Teams have been forced to visit residents through outside windows and to find other creative ways to safely brighten the day with a canine visit whenever possible.

Southwest Medical Center Hospital recently contacted PACT founder Jo Humphrey and requested therapy dogs to come for the benefit of the staff, who were in great need of some relief from the stress of their jobs.

Three teams responded and spent part of an afternoon visiting with nurses, physicians and other staff members, lifting spirits and providing a few moments of cheerful relief. All was done under careful and safe oversight, protecting handlers and dogs.

The success of this visit has opened the door for follow-up visits in the near future. Hopefully , other medical facilities will consider how therapeutic our canine friends are in times of stress and teams can return to scheduling visits on a regular basis.

PACT was formed in 2012 for the purpose of training therapy dogs and handlers for volunteer work in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, and schools. Humphrey has trained dogs for almost 40 years and regularly conducts classes for puppies and adult dogs through the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy and AKC Canine Good Citizen programs. She is a registered trainer with the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and currently oversees 15 to 20 registered therapy dog teams serving the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles as well as portions of southern Kansas from her home base in Perryton.