Animal Assisted Therapy
Our regularly scheduled animal-assisted therapy visits relieve loneliness and
boredom for hundreds of in-patients at acute care hospitals, psychiatric institutions,
rehabilitation facilities and convalescent homes. The devotion of our volunteers
helps us fill the void in social service programs by providing meaningful contact
with those most in need - the elderly, the young, and the mentally and physically
challenged - who are often left without services in these economically difficult
times.
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Click on the calendar to view our current visit schedule |
Current visit sites include:
* Diablo Lodge - Assisted
Living, Danville
* Fairmont Hospital - Skilled Nursing, San Leandro
* John George Psychiatric
Pavilion - Adult Acute
Psychiatric, San Leandro
* Los Cerros Middle School Special Day Class -
Children with Disabilities (ages 12-14), Danville
* Mauzy School
- Children with Disabilities (ages 3-5), Alamo
* Mercy Retirement and Care - Alzheimer,
Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, Oakland
* Montair Elementary School Special
Day Class - Children with Disabilities (ages 6-11), Danville
* Piedmont Gardens - Independent
Living, Assisted Living and SNF, Oakland
Facility Definitions
Independent Living Retirement Communities: Designed
for those who are totally independent (or nearly so) assisted Living sections
(see below).
Assisted Living: Accommodates older adults who do not
have extensive medical care needs but require assistance with daily activities
such as bathing, dressing, eating and medications.
Intermediate Care Facility: For those who are not bed
bound, and can move about the facility under their own initiative, even with
a wheelchair. They may be incontinent and require intermittent nursing
services.
Skilled Nursing Facility: For patients who need 24 hour
nursing supervision, many of whom are confined to bed for some portion of
the day or who are incontinent. SNF's are sometimes referred to as "Convalescent
Hospitals", although most SNF's offer a rehabilitation component, which means
that some residents are there to recover from surgery and need extra therapy
before returning to their own homes.
Alzheimer and Dementia Care: These facilities can be
either Day Care, where participants attend daily or a few days a week for
a set number of hours, or residential where the patients actually live at
the facility. Participants are at different levels of dementia, some
more severe than others. The programs provide families and caregivers
of those afflicted with these devastating diseases a safe place to take them
when they need a break from managing daily care.
Children with Disabilities: These children have developmental
disabilities, cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, communication disorders,
learning disabilities, autism and other behavioral issues that impact social
relationships.
Chronic/Acute/Sub-Acute Psychiatric Treatment Centers:
Psychiatric Treatment Centers for adults with various degrees of psychiatric
problems: chronic (long-term and persistent), acute (extreme) and sub-acute
(less extreme) psychiatric disorders.
Volunteer Team Job Description
Major Objective: To share visiting animals in
a way that promotes healing and improves the quality of life of those we
visit.
Responsibilities:
1. To visit facilities in the company of a site supervisor.
2. To hold animals for people to touch.
3. To encourage people to talk and share their feelings and experiences.
Qualifications: Possess good, friendly communication skills, and the ability and desire to handle animals and to work with people who may have slowed response.
Orientation and Training Requirements: An orientation with the Volunteer Coordinator or the Site Supervisor at the facility prior to a scheduled visit. On the job training. Ongoing evaluation of the dog/handler teams suitableness and abilities takes place at each visit.
Time and Place: Animal-assisted therapy visits are held
at various facilities in the East Bay. Transportation is the responsibility
of the volunteer. Visits
are scheduled on weekdays, weekends, and some weekday evenings.
Commitment: A
minimum of three visits each calendar quarter are required to retain your
membership.
Supervision: All visits are supervised by a site supervisor.
Benefits: Wonderful smiles from patients, continuing education, personal satisfaction,
and of course lots of tail wagging.
Volunteer Guidelines
If your dog is accepted into the program, call the site supervisor to schedule
a visit. Any adult facility is acceptable for a first visit.
If your dog is
accepted into the program:
- We require each volunteer team to do 3 visits over at least
a two month period per calendar quarter. Only dogs fulfilling
this requirement
are permitted at sites with children. Teams that are unable to visit
for three consecutive months
are required to complete a new animal interview with our
temperament tester.
- During the probationary period, dogs must complete a minimum
of 5 visits in no less than two months at adult facilities.
Additional testing at
the conclusion of the probationary period will certify the dog
for full participation in our
program.
- The dog should be freshly bathed and free of any parasites
for each visit.
- Regarding treats:
• Only dogs approved during evaluation as
gentle taking food can receive treats from
patients
• On visits, dogs are only allowed to eat food
provided by the handler.
• Do not feed treats to other handlers’ dogs
without their expressed permission.
- Guardians are expected
to have the dog under their control and on a 4-foot leash at all
times on visits. When possible,
the dog
should
be no farther than
one foot away from the guardian and no closer than
two feet to other visiting teams.
- It is the responsibility of each voluunteer to maintain their
membership status by submitting their annual renewal, including
their pet's veterinary evaluation, in a timely manner.
- Guardians must pay the costs
for any veterinary visits.
- On a visit, the guardian of any
misbehaving dog (barking, growling, snapping biting or jumping)
MUST remove
the animal from the facility
immediately.
- Animals who display unacceptable behaviors
at any facility or group function will be unable to
continue in our program.
Facilities
| Diablo Lodge, Danville |
Just a short time go, seniors
who needed help with their care had very few choices. Today, thanks
to operations like Diablo Lodge's Assisted Living Program, seniors can
remain in private apartments, maintaining their dignity and independence,
and still receive the care they need. Diablo Lodge offers six different
levels of care for its residents from light assistance or medications
to special care. Their activity-recreation program offers a wide
range of activities including cards, exercise, arts & crafts, current
events class, scenic drives, and S.M.A.R.T. Dogs visits. Visits here give
an opportunity for both the human and canine members of the teams to sit
and visit with the residents in a warm "living room" environment. This
is probably Carolyn's Dougie's favorite visit. He loves to "hang
out" with the residents here, and he is usually joined by Connie's
Molly and Gayle's Clarissa. Other frequent visitors are Dorothea's Jace,
Gail's Chloe, and Cynthia's Baxter. |
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Dougie spending quality time with Tivy. |
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| Fairmont Hospital,
San Leandro |
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Fairmont Hospital is a Skilled Nursing Facility, providing convalescent
care to those recovering from illness or accidents. The staff at Fairmont
recognizes the positive impacts the dogs have for many Fairmont patients
and welcomes the visit each month. Most patients have had some affiliation
with dogs. It gives them a chance to reminisce about past life experiences..."even
people who say they are afraid of dogs have come around to looking forward
to seeing them", comments one of the staff. Several research studies
in recent years have pointed toward general health benefits of pet ownership
or animal visits for people with chronic illnesses. It's been proven, petting
a dog will lower your blood pressure: it creates a sense of well-being in
a person. Patients with limited mobility also benefit from the simple physical
activity and tactile stimulation of petting the animals. In many instances,
a visiting pet stimulates verbal communication as well. Cindy's Dazy really
likes this visit! |
| Dazy enjoys the interaction with a patient. |
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John
George Psychiatric Pavilion, San Leandro |
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John George Psychiatric Pavilion treats adults with various degrees of
psychiatric problems: chronic (long-term and persistent), acute (extreme)
and sub-acute (less extreme) psychiatric disorders. The visit to John George
provides the patients an opportunity to talk about the animals in their
lives, ask questions about the visiting dogs' breeds and training, see demonstrations
of dog obedience and tricks and interact with the dogs, one on one. Dorothea's
Jace and Carolyn's Tess and Dougie all enjoy this visit very much. |
Jace anxiously awaits his visit at John
George |
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| Piedmont Gardens, Oakland |
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Piedmont Gardens provides Assisted Living through Skilled Nursing to its
residents. Visits by S.M.A.R.T. Dogs offers the opportunity for the dogs
and their human companions to make room visits to the residents' own rooms.
The residents welcome the dogs and have an opportunity to pet them and reminisce
about the dogs in their lives. Elizabeth's Nick is a regular at these visits,
along with other Friendship Foundation visitors, and frequently Carolyn's
Dougie, as well. |
Nick relaxes in the arms of a resident |
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| Mauzy School, Alamo |
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The Mauzy County Preschool Program for severely handicapped children serves
children from all the school districts in Central Contra Costa County.
The children at Mauzy have a wide range of disabilities including delayed
speech and language, Cerebral Palsy, autism and pervasive developmental
delay, attention deficit disorder and add-hyperactivity, mental retardation,
Down syndrome, as well as a variety of medically complicated youngsters.
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Alex gives Molly a gentle pet |
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| Also located on the Mauzy School site are California
Children's Services' Therapy Unit (physical and occupational therapy), the
San Ramon Valley Unified School District's Infant and Non-intensive Preschool
programs, and the Merriewood Preschool. All the children really enjoy
the visits with their canine friends and the visits offer opportunities
for the dogs to interact with the children in the therapy unit, classrooms
and out on the playground, and perhaps even learn some sign language with
the children. This is probably Tess' favorite visit - all those faces to
lick! She, or Dougie, is usually joined by Molly, who has found this is
one place you are allowed to put your feet up on the table (the wheelchair
tables) to greet the children. |
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| Montair Elementary School, Danville |
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At Montair Elementary School, S.M.A.R.T. Dogs visits the Special
Day Class for children with disabilities (ages 6-11). The children
have an opportunity to interact with the dogs, both large and small, with
smooth and wiry coats, long and short hair, and seem to enjoy every them
and their tricks, often joining in the tricks. Here the children enjoy walking
Dougie and Jackie's Witter around the classroom, as well as petting them.
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Erin gently seeks a kiss from Witter |
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| Los Cerros Middle
School, Danville |
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At Los Cerros Middle School, S.M.A.R.T. Dogs visits the Special
Day Class for children with disabilities (ages 11-114). The children
have an opportunity to interact with the dogs, and sometimes go for a walk
with them. The students enjoy the interaction with the dogs, and some share
information about their dogs. The dogs help them to continue to learn gentle
touching and respect for other living things. |
Josh is pleased with his visit with Tess |
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