Canine Visitation

volunteers and dogs Rochester General Hospital’s Canine teams are certified visitation dogs and their volunteer handlers. As a team, they visit on the nursing units and will hopefully benefit patients and visitors in the Lipson Cancer Center and Surgical Family Lounge in the not too distant future. Canine visitation is not pet therapy: while visits may have therapeutic benefits, the human handlers are not certified therapists, and will not provide therapy to patients. Canine visitation, though, has proven psychological and physiological benefits of canine visitation.
 

Benefits to Patients and Visitors from Canine Visitation

 

RGHS Volunteers in the News

Healthy Living: Pet Therapy
(source: YNN)

A back scratch, a game of fetch, a much needed distraction. Watch the video about Pet Therapy at Rochester General Hospital.
Canine visitation has been shown to:
  • Reduce patient stress (decrease heart rate, decrease blood pressure, increase skin temperature, and distract from stressors)
     
  • Increase self-esteem, and assist in adjustment to an altered body image
     
  • Increase memory skills
     
  • Provide emotional support, increase social interaction and companionship. Animals provide a socially acceptable way to satisfy the human need to touch and be touched
     
  • May reduce need for, or amount of, pain medication

Requirements for the Program

Qualifications

  • Be at least 1 year old
     
  • Have passed the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen exam
     
  • Be registered and maintain membership with Therapy Dogs Inc., Delta Society, or other similar organization*
     
  • Conduct canine visitations on a regularly scheduled basis – one two-hour shift a week for at least six months
     
  • Complete Volunteer Application and Interview


Getting Started

  • Complete Human Health Review Questionnaire and Screening, including two (2) tuberculosis skin tests
     
  • Complete dog’s Health and Temperament screening
     
  • Complete the Rochester General Hospital Volunteer Orientation process, which involves one shadowing experience of an experience Canine Team and a training visit with and review by the Canine Visitation Program Coordinator
     
  • Complete required training visits

Annually

  • Update human Health screening
     
  • Update pet’s Health and Temperament screening
     
  • Provide certification renewal information
     
  • Attend periodic and annual volunteer educational and training and other in-service programs

For more information about the Canine Visitation Program or other volunteer opportunities, please contact the Volunteer Services Department at (585) 922-2927.

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* Please refer to TDI (www.tdi-dog.org) or Delta Society (www.deltasociety.org) for more information on obtaining certification.
 
 

 

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