Eskenazi Hospital to expand therapy dog program with $1M gift

Tavarris Morse sat up on the edge of his bed at Eskenazi Hospital and let a visitor climb on his lap. The visitor, a frisky puppy named Georgia, leaned in for a petting.

“This is putting me back in a happy place,” said Morse, 29, of Beech Grove, who was recovering from three surgeries for eight gunshot wounds. His legs were wrapped top to bottom in bandages, and he had an IV needle in his arm, but a smile spread across his face.

Morse was shot Oct. 2 as he was working in the stockroom at Family Dollar store on Emerson Avenue. A co-worker has been arrested and charged with aggravated battery and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon.

The pain of the shootings and surgeries, however, were forgotten for a few minutes while Morse stroked the puppy. A minute later, a larger dog named Gus padded over for petting.

“Dogs are non-judgmental animals,” Morse said. “It’s kind of like they understand.”

Therapy dogs, a growing area of patient care, are specially trained and certified dogs who visit hospitals, clinics and nursing homes with their owners, and provide comfort and support to people in stressful or anxious situations.

At Eskenazi and other hospitals around central Indiana, therapy dogs are seen as part of the health care team—furry healing agents who bring smiles to patients, and perhaps even more. A raft of medical studies suggests that trained therapy dogs can reduce pain and stress in patients, elevate their mood, and help the healing process.

Now Eskenazi is preparing to expand its 14-year pet therapy program, thanks to a $1 million gift from Robert and Gina Laikin, longtime supporters of the health system and animal organizations.

Robert Laikin, a semi-retired Indianapolis business executive, has served on the boards of the Eskenazi Health Foundation and the Indianapolis Zoo board. He currently serves on the board of IndyHumane, an animal rescue and adoption organization.

“We know firsthand the importance pets play in our lives and are great supporters of animal-related causes,” Laikin wrote in an email. “… We believe in the power of healing that this program provides patients and people in general and hope that others will follow our lead.”

Eskenazi officials said the funds will be used to help bring more therapy dogs into clinics and hospital rooms, to support research on pet therapy, and to buy supplies and educational materials. The health system is naming the pet therapy program after the Laikins.

“It’s really going to broaden the spectrum of the animal-human bond,” said Shelly Fisher, Eskenazi’s pet therapy manager who has managed the program since 2015.

Many major hospitals in Indiana and around the United States use therapy dogs, which live with their owners but visit hospitals as often as possible. During the pandemic, dogs provided a cuddly break for doctors, nurses and therapists who were working long hours.

“It was a really difficult time for us,” said Kehterina Kitkas, manager of volunteer services and guest relations at Indiana University Health, the state’s largest hospital system, which has used therapy dogs for more than 25 years. “The dogs were a tremendous support and stress relief for everyone.”

Ascension St. Vincent uses an outside, not-for-profit vendor, Indianapolis-based Paws and Think Inc., to bring in trained dogs to visit patients. The program uses 31 volunteers to escort teams of owners and dogs through the hospitals and clinics.

That group visits numerous Ascension St. Vincent hospitals and clinics in the region and tries to bring quiet cheer to patients. But demand for visits is high, and the group is trying to expand its ranks.

“We’ve lost four teams in the last year due to retirement or death of the therapy dog, and we are actively working toward having 35 teams by next summer,” said Lisa Gupton, program coordinator at Paws and Think.

Many people who work in hospitals say just spending a little time with a friendly dog feels good and lifts the mood.

“It’s like a little refresher,” said Rachel Redinbo, a nurse at Eskenazi Hospital, as she and a fellow nurse, Lauren Wenson, took a minute to lift Georgia, the energetic puppy, in their arms.

The benefits

Over the past decade or so, a growing number of studies have suggested that therapy dogs can offer benefits to patients, from the emergency room to palliative-care units.

Researchers have conducted controlled trials that show hospitals, clinics and therapy rooms are filled with stress that dogs can help alleviate. Some studies have shown that patients’ heart, mood and distress were helped after just a few minutes with a cuddly dog.

The studies are written in the same clinical language as research on new drugs and medical devices.

“The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of animal-assisted intervention as a distraction for reducing children’s pain and distress before, during and after standard blood-collection procedure,” said one study, published in Pain Management Nursing journal in 2014.

The study examined 50 children in an exam room, measuring pain and behavioral distress. The researchers concluded that children who had dogs comfort them during blood draws had lower levels of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone.

Other studies say dogs also are good for improving mental health and overall mood. A 2021 study published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science said research “suggests dogs are sensitive to our emotional states as well as our social gestures.”

A 2020 report in The New York Times said animal-assisted therapy is becoming a highly popular tool for distracting and comforting pediatric patients. But the report stopped short of declaring the dogs were a decisive factor in improving patients’ health.

“While conclusive evidence is limited, some studies suggest that interacting, playing or just being in the same room with trained therapy dogs may improve pain and blood pressure after surgery, reduce pain and stress during blood draws, and elevate mood,” the article said.

While research is ongoing, it’s not a stretch to say that walking a friendly, trained therapy dog through a hospital or clinic is almost guaranteed to bring a smile to most people.

Fisher said she sometimes brings a dog into a room for five minutes and other times for a half-hour, depending on the patient’s needs. Eskenazi uses a rotating corps of 24 dogs and their owners to visit hospitals and clinics.

“Maybe it’s a transgender patient who wants us to sit with them during a really difficult appointment,” she said. “Maybe it’s a patient who just had a really bad prognosis and just wants something other than themselves in the room.”

‘All-around happiness’

If nothing else, therapy dogs are almost guaranteed to brighten a day and help patients pass the time as they recover from surgery or other procedures.

“They are just here to provide comfort, stress relief, all-around happiness,” said Kitkas at IU Health. “They’re here for hugs, and they just really, really make a difference for everyone they visit.”

Dr. Lisa Harris, an internal medicine physician and CEO of Eskenazi Health, credits the dogs with offering healing benefits to patients. “Sometimes the best medicine is that which cannot be prescribed,” she said in written remarks.

And the dogs are included in therapy programs, burn recovery, mental health—just about every area of a hospital.

Many pet therapy programs, including those at local hospitals, require the dogs to go through training, get certified as a therapy dog, and undergo an evaluation by hospital officials, along with their handlers.

“We’re noticing the dog’s body language, making sure they’re excited to be in this environment, they’re feeling good about where they are,” Fisher said. “That’s a really important piece for me.”

Common breeds of therapy dogs are Labrador retriever, golden retriever, beagle, poodle and Labradoodle—all known for their upbeat spirit and even temperament.

In most cases, dogs are limited to just a few hours per visit, to help avoid fatigue from walking down one hospital corridor after another, and greeting and nuzzling dozens of people.

Dr. Sarah Stelzner, a pediatrician at an Eskenazi Health clinic on West 38th Street, said she frequently requests dogs when giving vaccinations and other difficult procedures to young patients who have a strong fear of needles.

“So, it’s not only soothing, but if you look at the science behind that sort of loving interaction, it promotes all of the endorphins and decreases anxiety and brings the blood pressure down,” Stelzner said. “And so it’s obviously a much less painful procedure, because of the relaxation that goes on.”

A canine therapy garden

Two years ago, Eskenazi Hospital built an outdoor “canine therapy garden” that includes a courtyard, a play area and a visitation area where patients can sit on a bench or wheelchair and cuddle with a therapy dog or even an animal from home.

On one occasion, a terminally ill patient who was unable to go home sat in the outdoor visitation area while a family member brought his beloved pets—two cats—for a final visit.

“And he was able to say goodbye to them,” Fisher said, “and he died the next day.”

On a recent day, a half-dozen poodles scampered around the gated area, sometimes running on a circuit path or up to doctors, nurses, patients and visitors.

For more than an hour, the poodles greeted everyone who passed with licks and nuzzling.

“This is wonderful,” said Sarah Pratt of Brownsburg, who was visiting her nephew in the hospital. “These dogs are really bringing it.”

Eskenazi officials say the expanding program is part of the health system’s overall approach to health that goes beyond medicine—a holistic approach to care, prevention and treatment.

“The idea is, you can add things like our music program, our art program, or our dog program,” said Eskenazi spokesman Todd Harper. “It just helps in the healing process.”•