Our canine volunteers make approximately 15,000 bedside visits and 1,000 playroom visits each year.
PetSmart Paws for Hope at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, our canine therapy program, helps to reduce the stress of hospitalization and illness.
Currently, we have 30 canine volunteers. Each dog is escorted through the Hospital by its handler/owner along with a volunteer escort. Visits usually last about five minutes and take place with the consent of the patient, parent/guardian and medical staff.
Along with decreasing stress, these visits:
- Provide warmth, comfort and a sense of familiarity
- Offer “normal life” experiences
- Provide distraction from pain, medical treatments and daily hospital routines
- Encourage interaction and communication
- Bring laughter and smiles
Due to the overwhelming interest in our program and the very low attrition rate, we are not accepting applications at this time.
We want to thank PetSmart for its generous donation, which will help us to further enhance this important program.
In the News
- Dog Helps Children with Their COVID Vaccine, fox5sandiego.com
- Health Care is Going to the Dogs—and That’s a Very Good Thing, Los Angeles Times, features Volunteer Services Manager Sylvie Sneep.