Like many, I cherish my dogs and understand the deep sadness of being apart from them. This personal connection fuels my professional advocacy for the Family Pet Center at Cincinnati Children’s, a unique resource I enthusiastically utilize for my patients.
As a child life specialist within the inpatient bone marrow transplant unit at the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, my role centers on enhancing the well-being of young patients and their families. This involves fostering play, delivering educational support, and providing crucial emotional and psychosocial care during challenging times. Among the invaluable services we offer at Cincinnati Children’s are family pet center visits, a program that brings immense comfort and normalcy to our patients’ lives.
The Profound Impact of Family Connection During Extended Hospital Stays
For children facing long-term hospitalization, the separation from home is multifaceted. They miss the familiar comforts of their rooms, the routine of school, the camaraderie of siblings and friends, and significantly, the unconditional love of their pets. These furry, scaled, or feathered companions are integral family members, offering emotional support and a sense of stability, especially during stressful periods. The absence of pets can exacerbate the emotional burden of hospitalization, making the family pet center an essential bridge back to the comforts of home.
Cincinnati Children’s recognized this critical need and established the CancerFree KIDS & Impact 100 Family Pet Center in 2013. This thoughtfully designed space features a welcoming outdoor grassy area and a protected, bus shelter-style structure equipped with heating for colder days, ensuring visits can occur year-round. With medical team approval, families of patients hospitalized for five days or longer can arrange these heartwarming reunions, bringing their dogs or cats to visit their child within the secure and supportive environment of the center.
Leveraging the Family Pet Center to Enhance Patient Well-being
Since its inception, the Family Pet Center has been an indispensable resource in my work with patients. Witnessing the sheer joy these visits bring to children is incredibly rewarding. While coordinating these visits requires considerable effort, the positive impact on the children and their families makes it unequivocally worthwhile.
Here are some of the impactful ways I integrate the family pet center into patient care plans:
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Consistent Weekly Pet Visits: One patient, eagerly anticipating her pet’s arrival, scheduled weekly visits every Wednesday for several months. This routine became a significant highlight, with the patient selecting a special outfit for each visit, showcasing the importance of these moments. Her dedicated mother undertook a four-hour round trip to ensure their family dog could participate in these vital therapeutic sessions.
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Therapy Dog Companionship: Recognizing that not all families can bring their pets to the hospital, we facilitate visits with volunteer therapy dogs through our dedicated volunteer dog coordinator. This ensures that every child has access to the therapeutic benefits of animal interaction, regardless of their circumstances.
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Integrating Pet Visits into Therapy Goals: Occupational and physical therapists effectively incorporate family pet center visits into treatment plans. The prospect of seeing their beloved pet serves as powerful motivation for children to actively engage in therapy, encouraging them to walk, move, and participate in activities they might otherwise find challenging.
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Celebrating Milestones and Holidays: The family pet center provides a unique and joyful setting for families to celebrate special occasions together. From Easter egg hunts to birthday gatherings, these events create cherished memories and foster a sense of normalcy amidst medical treatments.
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Providing Comfort During End-of-Life Care: In profoundly sensitive situations, the family pet center offers a peaceful outdoor space for patients and families facing end-of-life circumstances. During the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a crucial venue for a patient to connect with his sibling and a therapy dog, creating a deeply meaningful and last outdoor experience for everyone involved.
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Building Legacies and Treasured Memories: Recognizing the lasting value of these interactions, I often document family pet center visits with photographs and videos. These visual mementos are then shared with families, providing tangible keepsakes of precious moments during challenging times.
The Undeniable Positive Effects on Families
Research consistently demonstrates the therapeutic benefits of animal interaction for patients. Access to family pets or therapy dogs demonstrably reduces stress and lowers heart rates, fostering a state of relaxation and emotional well-being. In my experience, the positive impact of the family pet center on a child’s psychosocial, emotional, and mental health is consistently evident and truly remarkable.
The resounding feedback from families is one of profound gratitude and deep appreciation. They express immense thankfulness for the opportunity to utilize the family pet center, highlighting how these visits provide patients with something positive to anticipate and joyfully reminisce about.
On pet visit days, a palpable sense of excitement permeates the unit. Patients are noticeably more motivated to prepare for the day and eagerly venture outside to greet their beloved companions. Upon returning, they enthusiastically share their experiences with the hospital staff, recounting stories and displaying pictures, exclaiming, “I saw Jo Jo today!” or “Look at Olivia, she let me tickle her belly!”. The family pet center truly serves as a bright spot, not only for the patients but for the entire family unit.
Furthermore, the center provides a secure and private environment for immunocompromised children who require isolation. These visits often represent a rare opportunity for these children to experience the outdoors, breathe fresh air, and feel sunshine on their faces, elements of normalcy often missed during extended hospital stays.
A Commitment to Holistic Pediatric Care
From both my professional perspective as a child life specialist and my personal viewpoint as a devoted dog lover, I am deeply appreciative that Cincinnati Children’s offers family pet center visits to our patients.
This initiative underscores Cincinnati Children’s commitment to treating the whole child. Beyond addressing medical conditions, the hospital recognizes and values the significance of a child’s home life and family connections. By providing the family pet center, Cincinnati Children’s facilitates the incredibly meaningful opportunity for families to bring their cherished furry friends into the hospital environment, contributing significantly to the healing process. It is an honor to play a role in making these special moments happen for our patients and their families.
For further information about the Family Pet Center or to arrange a visit, please connect with your child’s Child Life specialist, contact the pet center directly at 513-636-PETS (7387), or send an email to [email protected].
The family pet center is generously supported by a grant from Impact 100 and CancerFree KIDS.
