Georgia Magazine - December 2017 - 17

COURTESY CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA

For the staff and caregivers,
having therapy dogs on the medical
floors of the hospital has far-reaching
effects.
"For the patients, it's like a little
bit of home," Stockwell says. "They'll
tell you about their own dogs, and
they get to love and hug on Tidings.
It's stress relief and emotional
support, not only for the young
patients but also for their families
and even for the staff. They're part of
our family."

Giving back

COURTESY CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA

Therapy dog Lancelot is a welcome distraction for young patient James Ethan Hamilton
as a CHOA staffer takes a blood sample.

with their handlers every night, and,
while they're not pets, they're part of
their handlers' families.

Paging Dr. Dog

COURTESY CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA

Casper, the first Canines For Kids therapy
dog at CHOA, is right at home on the MRI
machine.

Patient Ethan Berrie and CHOA staff
member Colleen Coulter visit with therapy
dog Allis.
December 2017

Tidings, a golden retriever/
poodle mix, goes to work each day
with Dr. Jana Stockwell, chief of the
Division of Critical Care Medicine at
Egleston at CHOA. Tidings, who
joined the program in 2016, accompanies Stockwell on rounds through
the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,
visits patient rooms and attends staff
meetings and conferences with
families.
"He has a sense of what he
needs to do, whether it's to gently
approach a young patient to be
petted or to just sit quietly by and be
supportive," Stockwell says.
She tells the story of a teen
whose family had decided to
withdraw life support.
"The teen was at the end of his
life, and his mother had become
very attached to Tidings," Stockwell
says. "In those final moments, as the
mother was on the bed holding her
son, she requested that Tidings get
up in the bed, too, and lie there with
them. He put his head on her thigh
and just stayed there."
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Casper works in CHOA's Volunteer Services Department with
Kinsel. "He's a generalist who goes
all over the hospital," she says.
"Neither of us receives any compensation for Casper's work; all of his
needs-and those of all our animalassisted therapy dogs-are donorfunded. And thanks to our donors,
when Casper needed help himself,
he was able to get the best care."
When Casper was 9, he suffered
a stroke.
"We were faced with the question, 'What do you do for a dog
who's there for everybody else?'"
Kinsel says. "We took him to a
neurologist for an MRI and found
that he had a blood clot on his brain.
He needed laser treatment, acupuncture, extensive rehab and physical
therapy, and every bit of it was paid
for through donors and supporters
of the program. It's just been amazing. We thought we'd lost him."
Although Casper is semi-retired
now, he and Kinsel are still ambassadors for the program. He often
accompanies her to presentations
about the success of the Canines For
Kids program. It was the first of its
kind and has been replicated by 13
other pediatric hospitals in the
United States.
"Canines For Kids has been
good for us on so many levels,"
Kinsel says. "Our facility dogs can
help motivate a child to walk after
surgery when a doctor or family
17

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - December 2017