Complimentary therapies
Hospice of Spokane is always finding new ways to improve our clients' quality of life. We already offer a wide variety of complimentary therapies, including pet therapy, music thanatology, energy therapy, reflective writing, and massage therapy.
Pet Therapy
Since April 2003, Hospice of Spokane's "Paws for Comfort" pet therapy program has brought joy and love into the lives of our clients. The first in-home pet therapy program in the nation, it has become a model for other hospice pet therapy programs across the United States. “Paws for Comfort” was created by Hospice of Spokane social worker, Trina Poppens, and Hospice of Spokane volunteer, Greg Renner, because they knew pet therapy could help our clients and their families feel more relaxed and better handle the stressful situations they often face.
Benefits of pet therapy include:
- Reducing anxiety
- Releasing endorphins
- Helping people reminisce
- Encouraging people to talk about their feelings
- Helping people talk about their grief
- Providing socialization opportunities with other people because of a common interest in the dog
- Providing isolated people an opportunity for touch/snuggling which they may not otherwise have
Not just anyone can be a handler or therapy dog. Handlers must be extremely committed to caring for and training their animals and be able to deal with situations that are emotionally difficult. They must also complete Hospice of Spokane's 24-hour volunteer training program before they are allowed to visit clients. Good therapy dogs are quick learners with loving, easy-going personalities and can stay calm in unusual or stressful environments. Before they are certified to work as a pet therapy team, handlers and their animals undergo extensive testing. Several organizations certify pet therapy dogs, including Delta Society and Therapy Dogs International.
Therapy dogs have an ability to connect with and bring joy to all kinds of people, even those who are normally unresponsive or disconnected from their environments. Our pet therapy teams have found that some people with severe cognitive impairments (such as late-stage dementia) became unusually communicative when visited by a therapy dog.
Our pet therapy dogs visit clients in their homes, wherever "home" may be: a family home, long-term care facility, retirement community or even during a hospital stay. Visits are made by a handler, the dog and an assistant, who all volunteer their time.