This week, for the first time in nearly sixteen months, five teams from the UCLA People Animal Connection returned to the hospital. It was a joyous occasion. The dogs were so excited to see each other and greeted each other like old friends. There was even a bark or two, something you rarely hear.
After a few photos, we went our separate ways to do some in-person visits. Walking though the hospital with Stanley at my side felt so familiar yet so new. The months we’d been away faded into the distance.
Faces lit up as we paused at nurses’ stations. I lost count of how many times I heard. “thank goodness the dogs are back.” Some shared difficult COVID stories and, although they totally understood, said how much the dogs would have helped.
We stopped to visit with a toddler who clung shyly to her dad, but who peeked out when Stanley did a few tricks. Then we went into a room where Stanley did his first bed visit in over a year. He remembered to step gently as he lay down on the blanket we’d placed by the patient’s side.
With Stanley relaxing next to him, the young man showed me videos of his German Shepherd while his mom looked on smiling. I had almost forgotten the power of a simple bed visit.
In a serendipitous moment, we were getting off an elevator and there was my son-in-law’s brother who is truly family. I hadn’t seem him since pre-pandemic and had no idea that his job brought him to UCLA. It was a reunion that fit the mood of the morning.
No return would be complete without our Subway in the basement, so after finishing our “rounds,” Jen, the manager of PAC, and I headed downstairs. We were having lunch and talking about how amazing it was to be back, when she received a text that a palliative care patient needed a visit.
We immediately went up to the ICU to see the 94 year old man who was going home on hospice care. The patient was slightly agitated but his wife talked quietly to me as she petted Stanley. It was another reminder of how much the dogs had been missed and how much we had missed being there.
For all of us who brought our dogs in on Thursday and for those teams that will be returning in the near future, I say thank you for the warm welcome. Thank you to the staff, to the patients and to their families. We are so grateful to be back.
