Texas Children’s furriest team members paraded through the halls of the Heart Center at the Medical Center campus to help make it a “pawsitively” lovely Valentine’s Day for our cardiology patients and their families.
Therapy dogs Elsa, Bailey, Pinto and Pluto brought holiday cards, festive beaded necklaces and even a few kisses to children throughout Legacy Tower, including stops to visit the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) and Adult Congenital Heart Program.
Six-year-old patient Kyleigh Ward said she was very excited to see her best friend Bailey during the special Valentine’s Day parade. Kyleigh has been hospitalized at Texas Children’s for nearly 150 days awaiting a much-needed heart transplant.
“We love the dogs,” said Kyleigh’s mother, Briancca. “It was very therapeutic to see them come around and spend time with the families. … I’m glad Kyleigh had a good time. I had a good time, too.”
The four golden retrievers are the heart of Texas Children’s Pawsitive Play Program, which is designed to enhance the emotional well-being of patients and families in the hospital. Along with Angus at West Campus and Cohen at The Woodlands campus, the dogs are specially bred and trained to work full-time as service dogs in a pediatric setting alongside our child life specialists.
“The Child Life Heart Center team and Animal-Assisted Therapy team came together to make the dog parade happen, and I’m so happy it went well,” said Victoria Ramos, child life activity coordinator.
“My role is to bring normalization and play to patients and families while they are in the hospital,” she said. “Bringing in the AAT dogs makes the job even more special. … What could be more fun than a parade where we come together and create fun memories for patients and their families?”