Since they have proven beneficial for hospital patients, Owensboro Health allows therapy dogs to be part of its volunteer programming. Sir Bentley and Lady Betsy — two therapy Yorkshire Terriers — have returned to visit patients in long-term and behavioral health care now that visitation restrictions have been lifted.
“It’s endearing to me,” said Kendra Knott, a human resources specialist in volunteer services at OH. “We offer different therapies, and pet therapy is one of the most successful. It’s a great program.”
Sir Bentley and Lady Betsy’s owner Roger Taylor said the program began 5 years ago and they were the first therapy dogs. Taylor, a former pastor who also volunteers in the hospital’s gift shop, said he planned for Sir Bentley to be a therapy dog, but not Lady Betsy.
“The first time I took them [togehter], they worked off of each other,” he said. “They have a sixth sense — they know what they are doing.”
Taylor said that Yorkies were the first recognized therapy dogs, but many hospitals don’t use them as they don’t follow typical protocol for standing at attention at the door of the patient’s room.
“I will admit my Yorkies are well-trained,” he said. “When working, they will not bark.”
Taylor said that his wife taught the dogs to turn so that their hind end faces the patient if the patient wants to pick one of them up.
“I wouldn’t just hand them over unless the patient is asking for that, but they can be held,” Taylor said. “There is just something about people holding dogs and what it does for them.”
When Taylor and the dogs visit, they are escorted and the “helper” knows which patients on the floor want pet therapy. Taylor accompanies them to each room and said that often, the patients share stories about their own pets at home.
“I just listen to them,” he said. “When they ask to hold them, I tell them, ‘You are on your own; they don’t know how to hold their licker.’”
The touch and attention from the licking Taylor jokes about are some of the reasons he brings his dogs to visit weekly.
Taylor also hears stories from the staff about patients who have succeeded because of their interactions with the dogs. One patient, he was told, spoke little in speech therapy. Prior to the visit she was known to say only a few words at a time, but when the dogs were visiting she spoke in complete sentences.
“Dogs know the need of patients, and Sir Bentley saw something I didn’t for a patient’s needs,” Taylor said of a man who Sir Bentley spent time with. The patient died soon after.
Patients are not the only people who enjoy seeing the dogs, and Taylor makes sure to visit the nurses and personnel as he makes his way through, just to say hello.
Sir Bentley and Lady Betsy are not the only dogs visiting the hospital. Angie Austin now brings her 1-year-old Portuguese Water Dog, Izzy, to visit weekly. Izzy was trained locally and spends about 1-2 hours visiting at a time.
Knott said they plan to develop a schedule that allows more therapy dogs to visit patients and staff in other departments.
There is not a specific therapy dog certification that is required, but dogs must have current vaccination records and go through an “interview” process.
“It brings joy and takes the patient’s mind away from why they are there,” Knott said. “We are so glad to have this back after COVID.”
If you are interested in volunteering with your pet, contact the Owensboro Health Volunteer Office at 270-417-3100.
