Pet Therapy

Toby visits with one of our members

Visiting with animals touches people's hearts in a wonderful and unique way, reducing feelings of loneliness and depression and increasing their sense of peacefulness and ease. Animal visitors offer unconditional loving-kindness, a welcome change from routine, the renewal of old friendships. People tend to become more active and responsive both during and after visiting with animals.

Callie and Cathy Miller, Lucy and Chris Jewell, Anghus and Mary Bayley and Toby and Steve Stern.

Some of the many benefits of pet therapy include:

• Reduced anxiety and lowered blood pressure.
• Fun and entertainment.
• Something joyful to look forward to.
• Increased use of hands and arms, stretching and turning, when petting an animal.

Are Volunteers Trained?

The Delta Society trains and screens volunteers and their pets for participation in visiting animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and schools. Training for volunteers is provided through hands-on workshops taught by Delta-licensed instructors, or through home study course and videotape. Volunteers and their pets are evaluated for skills and aptitude by Delta-licensed team evaluators.

Casey

What is Animal-Assisted Activities and Therapy?
Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA)* provide opportunities for motivational, educational and/or recreational benefits to enhance a person’s quality of life. AAA are delivered by a professional, para-professional or volunteer who demonstrates knowledge about animals and the human populations with which they interact.
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)* is a goal-directed intervention in which an animal is incorporated as an integral part of the clinical healthcare treatment process. AAT is delivered or directed by a professional health or human service provider who demonstrates skill and expertise regarding the clinical applications of human-animal interactions.

Can people in hospitals catch diseases from animals?

Some people think the animals that visit are cleaner than people who visit! Before animals can be registered as Pet Partners, they must have a thorough veterinary checkup. In addition, it is the handler’s responsibility prior to each visit to look for any signs of ill health or parasites, bathe and groom their animal, file toenails smooth, etc. Facilities welcome Pet Partner visiting animals with open arms - as they are healthy, clean model citizens!

Rev. Kelly with some of our furry volunteers.

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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