Therapy dogs offer unconditional love, companionship, and comfort to children. The presence of a friendly dog can create a positive and soothing environment. Those that visit La Rabida provide our patients with emotional support, distraction, entertainment, physical and cognitive stimulation, social interaction, and stress reduction.

Interacting with therapy dogs can serve as a welcome distraction from the medical procedures, discomfort, and anxiety associated with a clinic visit or hospital stay.

Playing, petting, and engaging with a dog helps patients focus on something enjoyable, lifting their spirits and improving their overall well-being.

In addition to the emotional and social support they provide, therapy dogs can motivate our patients to engage in physical activities such as walking, throwing a ball, or brushing the dog, which can promote mobility, coordination, and exercise.

Recently, our furry friend, Maddie, helped motivate and support Henry to walk down the hallway on our inpatient unit. With the assistance of his physical therapists, Henry continues to rebuild his strength. During his walk, he held the dog leash the entire time and loved the experience.

Some of the dogs that visit La Rabida are part of a partnership we have with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Over the past year, the Sheriff’s Office has brought therapy dogs to La Rabida’s outpatient unit every Tuesday, providing positive distractions to patients as they navigate their physician visits and therapy sessions.

Additionally, Jamie Kreisman, who has been a nurse in our employee health department for almost two years after nursing on our inpatient unit for six years, recently started bringing her 3-year-old therapy dog, Maddie, to visit with patients through the Rainbow Dogs program.

“I loved being a pediatric nurse and I love dogs,” says Jamie. “I wanted to bring those worlds together after seeing the smiles therapy dogs brought to patients’ faces.”

Every Monday either Maddie, or her friend Fonzi, come to share their love and do tricks for patients.

Not only do these amazing pets support our patients, but they also offer invaluable comfort to our staff. Especially after the world started to emerge again after the COVID pandemic.