STL Healthcare System

by Cynthia Alexander

Why did you want to bring therapy dogs into your facility?  

“Therapy” is the biggest focus in our facility, Patients come to us from all over the US for therapy. We created this program in the STL Healthcare System because patients needing emotional support from missing their family pets was immense. Our patients are with us for years sometimes and they need that comfort that humans cannot provide. The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to outside people coming in with therapy organizations (which is now back to allowing visits) so we created our own program and got it approved. 

How long have you had therapy dog visits at your facility? 

Many years before the COVID-19 pandemic, the STL Healthcare System had organizations come to the facility for visits. During the pandemic, we could have no visitors which prompted us to create our program which started in 2022. But we now are back to allowing visits, so all are welcome. 

Did you run into any complications when starting a therapy dog program?  

As with any new ideas in the government, lots of meetings and data are a part of it. Once we got through that we were in the clear, but mostly we couldn’t have done this without the support of the WHOLE team from the top down. 

How long are visits and how many dogs do you have visit at a time? 

We allow one dog in the building at a time, for safety reasons. Typical visits can last from 1-3 hours. It’s up to the handlers to decide that time frame, we give no time limit. 

Do you have a specific therapy dog visit that touched you?  

I personally had a visit with a patient, that when we entered his room, I noticed he was upset and teary eyed. He looked at us and said, “You came at a good time.” He received some upsetting news. We cried together, and he cried with our therapy dog for a bit, hugging her neck. She takes her job very seriously and stayed still and comforted him in his greatest time of need.