(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Nationwide Children’s Hospital announced today Butterfly PAWS, an expanded facility and therapy dog program to support healing, and emotional and mental well-being and contribute to best outcomes for patients, families and staff. To celebrate Butterfly PAWS, the hospital unveiled “Canine Corner,” a special area on the first floor of the hospital featuring seating for families during their visit, animal friends Gus and Junebug and a digital display dedicated to highlighting pups and patients alike.
Currently, Nationwide Children’s hosts 10 facility and therapy dogs on campus. Through the expansion of the Butterfly PAWS program, the hospital ultimately will expand to a team of 10 facility dogs and 70 therapy dogs, along with a larger team of community and staff volunteers with certified pups. These specially-trained facility and therapy dogs help bring comfort, joy and therapeutic support interventions to patients, families and staff.
“Research shows that spending just five minutes with a dog can lower cortisol and stress. Especially in a hospital setting, we know that affects everyone. We are thrilled to be impacting the culture of our hospital and supporting emotional well-being for our patients, families and staff,” said Melissa McMillen, CTRS, program manager of the Butterfly PAWS program at Nationwide Children’s and handler of facility dog, Hud II. “Since we started working with our first dog in 2006, our facility dogs and their clinical therapist-handlers have helped countless patients and their families, from providing motivation in physical therapy and aiding in the development of fine motor skills, to improving assertive communication and self-esteem. We look forward to all the milestones still to come.”
Facility dogs are the highest level of a trained dog – at Nationwide Children’s, they’re called MDs, and currently include Hud II, Beck and Boltz. These dogs are trained from birth to 2 years old before directly supporting any patient care, and are specifically trained to use treatments that clinical staff use to help patients return to their highest level of function and well-being. Therapy dogs are trained pets that have met criteria based on credentialing from Canine Good Citizen, Alliance of Therapy Dogs or Therapy Dog International to serve families, patients and staff by providing social and comfort interactions.
Nationwide Children’s partners with Canine Companions. Canine Companions has placed black Labrador Retriever, Hud II, and Golden Retriever, Beck and Yellow Labrador, Boltz, for their facility dog jobs. Since 1975, Canine Companions has placed more than 7,800 service dogs, training them specifically to assist adults, children and veterans with disabilities.
“Our dogs can often provide more support and opportunities for therapists to reach our patients in ways we can’t during a typical therapy session,” said Rochelle Krouse, CTRS, recreational therapist at Nationwide Children’s and handler of facility dog, Beck. “We are eager to collaborate with our community to increase access to this important kind of care and continue to foster the bond between people and dogs.
Eight-year-old Macie Taylor, from Zanesville, Ohio, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) and underwent selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery this year to address spasticity related to her CP. Following her surgery, Macie worked with Beck on the inpatient rehabilitation unit to improve her mobility.
“Macie had to learn to do basic tasks again, and once we found out there was a dog, she couldn’t wait to start rehab,” said Michele Taylor, Macie’s mom. “When she was throwing the ball with Beck and walking around the unit with him, she was doing therapy at the same time. Everything she accomplished before she got discharged was beyond my expectations. Being able to have Beck every day brought a little bit of home here.”
Learn more about Butterfly PAWS and Macie’s story here.
Donate to the Butterfly PAWS program here.
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs, as well as prioritizing quality and safety, are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 14,000 that provides state-of-the-art wellness, preventive and rehabilitative care and diagnostic treatment during more than 1.7 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.