ELBEE Is someone stealing movie titles again?
Wednesday was Gus’s regular morning at UCLA, although, when it comes to therapy dogs, there is no such thing as a “regular” morning, especially since COVID. With the dogs in and out of the hospital so many times, there is almost a collective sigh of relief when they walk in.
With tail wagging, Gus greeted everyone from the crew at valet parking, to families in the lobby to staff. We finally made it up to Resnick on the fourth floor.
As we went from one neuropsych unit to another, starting with the kids under twelve and ending with the adults, there was such a pervasive sense of joy and again a sense of relief.
After a long morning, we headed down to the take-out Subway in the basement of the hospital. It’s become an informal tradition to meet Jen, the manager of PAC, and Donna, human to Gus’s buddies Tommy and Finley, after the dogs make their rounds.
Without saying a word, we all understood how fulfilling, and at times how difficult, the morning had been. As our little heroes rested around us, we began sharing some of the special moments.
I mentioned a young man who was hugging Gus as he told the group how badly he wanted a dog. Awhile later, as we were leaving the floor, we saw him in the hall, carrying his bags, ready to go home.
He rushed over to tell me how much the visit from Gus had meant to him. He said he was glad that he hadn’t been discharged earlier because he would have missed it. He added that Gus had changed his whole mood. He was so earnest and sincere, it almost brought tears to my eyes.
A severely autistic, non-verbal boy focused long enough to put his hand on Gus’s back. It didn’t seem like a lot to me but the therapist said it was “major.”
Tommy and Finley had been in the PICU cheering up very sick children. Donna mentioned three in particular that had been critically ill. One was a seventeen year old boy who smiled and chatted with her while he cuddled the dogs. Only later did she find out how gravely ill he was and that he rarely smiled.
As conversation flowed, I was suddenly overwhelmed. I thought about Gus offering comfort in one area of the hospital while Tommy and Finley were comforting children on another floor. Donna and I were holding their leashes and making sure they were doing okay but they were truly showing us the quiet power of therapy dogs everywhere.
