McKenzie-Willamette Visit

Izzy getting some attention from the nurses.

We got to visit McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center last week and it was so wonderful to be back!

A little bit of history is in order. I was an occupational therapist in a former work life. When I was working on my degree at San Jose State University, I needed to do a thesis for my honor's seminar. My paper was "The Use of Pets as an Occupational Therapy Treatment Modality". The use of pets in therapy was in its infancy back then but people were starting to realize how beneficial they could be for healing both physically and emotionally. It was a challenge though finding studies and information to complete my thesis. I was sure I would be starting a program with pets when I started working. Well, I did but it ended up being over 30 years later when I retired because well, life happened.

I moved from San Jose, CA to Oregon after taking a job at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. I worked there for 11 years and then made a career change. I went back to school and became a computer programmer and spent the rest of my working career with the City of Eugene at the Wastewater Treatment plant.

Once it became apparent Emmi could be a therapy dog, I made plans to have her certified when I retired and had more time. Unfortunately, my retirement coincided with the pandemic, so we had to delay her certification. When we were able to, Emmi tested and passed the test and her observed visits, and I was finally doing pet therapy. I learned that McKenzie-Willamette did not have a therapy dog program. I contacted them to see if they would like to start one. It took quite a while to hear back (things always seem to move slowly in hospitals) but they decided they would like to start a program after checing with all interested parties to get the OK! I was actually starting a program and at the hospital I had worked at!

We got it started, and Emmi made one visit. It went great. Sadly, a week later, we got her cancer diagnosis.

I continued to coordinate the program with Ashlie, the rehab director, after Emmi passed. It was hard doing it without her but I didn't want to lose the program we had worked so hard to start. We got several more teams going.

It was so exciting to meet Ashlie and walk through the hospital with Izzy! While I did not feel comfortable with her interacting with patients, she got lots of love from the staff. One nurse said "this is the best day at work ever" after petting Izzy. She's helping people already. We also got to take our first elevator ride and she rocked it. I can't wait to be able to start working there with her. In the meantime, we can still make some limited visits.