Long-term hospital patients at the Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew are already benefiting from the therapeutic benefits of interacting with Dr Teddy Barks — the therapy dog for the Animal Assisted Recovery Care (AARC) pilot project.

The pilot project, which will run for 18 months, is a patient-centred intervention that will complement healthcare delivery to hospitalised paediatric patients undergoing procedures or who require long-term hospitalisation at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, was officially launched at the hospital on Tuesday.

It was first announced by Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton in a statement to Parliament in November last year.

Since that announcement, there has been a soft launch of the project which involved an initial school pilot at the Little Einstein Learning Centre in Seaview Gardens on March 11, 2022; and a staff sensitisation and pilot project conducted on May 6, 2022. Dr Teddy Barks, a golden retriever, along with a snake and a rabbit were used in those interventions.

In his presentation at the launch, Dr Tufton shared that during the pilot project at the hospital, Leo, a patient who came to the hospital and has lived in the intensive care unit (ICU) for three years, has benefited tremendously from his interaction with Dr Teddy Barks, which is the main therapy animal.

“Leo met Teddy and the rest of the animals when we were having the initial introduction and what I’m told is that he has developed since then a bond with Teddy. He has seen Teddy a few times [as] has been here a few times.I am told by the doctors that Leo is making good progress and is so excited when he comes into contact with Teddy — the first time he has come in contact with an animal since he was born,” he said.

He added: “The philosophy behind this programme is the need as a society to define health and wellness in a much broader context…and if we are able to broaden our horizon with that kind of redefinition of what health represents I believe as a society we will embrace in a very significant way, programmes such as this animal assisted recovery and care project.”

Dr Gillian Lawrence, medical officer and ear, nose and throat specialist at Bustamante, also noted in her presentation at the launch that other patients have also been positively impacted by the initial interaction with the therapy animals during the soft launch.

“Patients, we found, spoke loudly and more confidently for the first time after spending an hour with Teddy and his extended family members. So going forward the continued protocols will be utilised and tweaked for each interaction as required,” she said.

She noted as well that even though the initial primary drive was to have the interaction with the patients, the staff responded with enormous feedback and interest in the project.

In the meantime, Dr Marsha James, consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon at Bustamante, said that the plan is to have monthly interactions and educational sessions with pre-selected patients “and with our own facility animal, patients and staff can benefit from additional visits and interactions with Teddy outside of these scheduled interactions”.

She noted that there is also a research component the project which will allow the garnering of data on the impact of this intervention in the health care system.

Further, chairman of the hospital management committee at Bustamante, Dr Kenneth Benjamin explained both staff and patients will benefit from therapeutic treatment under the AARC pilot project which will primarily provide comfort and aid in the recovery of paediatric patients undergoing surgery or medical treatment at the facility

“The objectives of the programme are to reduce the anxiety and the stress associated with hospitalisation. It also shortens the hospitalisation, lessens the need for pharmacological interventions and to improve the social environment of health care delivery,” he said.

The programme, funded by the National Health Fund, is a multidisciplinary collaborative effort with key stakeholders from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Veterinary Services Division (VSD) of the ministry of agriculture and fisheries the Hope Zoo, Jamaica society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) and Montego Bay Animal Haven who comprise the programme’s animal therapy committee.