Four-legged friend makes life more bearable for North Texas hospital patients
DENTON — A North Texas hospital hired its first full-time, four-legged employee.
The new facility dog at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Denton helps make patient stays a little brighter and boosts staff morale.
Evans, a two-year-old Labrador Retriever, learned how to be a service dog through the Canine Companions program. He's already getting rave reviews.
"The staff has absolutely fallen in love with him," said Pam Lack, the senior executive assistant at the hospital and Evans' primary handler. "He is the most popular employee in the hospital."
Lack gets Evans suited up for work every morning.
"He's very serious when he has his vest on," she said. "He's all work."
His main job is to spread some cheer to patients at the hospital.
"Typically when you're in the hospital, it's not your best day," said Meeghan Abraham, the hospital's pharmacy manager and Evans' co-handler. "Something's gone wrong. You're nervous."
Evans give patients and their families a sense of calm and a bit of light in the dark.
"They just kind of relax a little bit," Abraham said. "And a little bit of their problems just melt away, if only for a few minutes. It's something you can see and something you can feel. It's really a gift."
Lack has noticed the same effect Evans has on people.
"When he comes in and the smiles on their faces and just what he does to them, I thought, wow, this is the coolest thing we've ever done," said Lack. "This is amazing. It's amazing to see the difference in the patients – and the staff."
Evans makes his rounds to see the staff at least once a day.
"They greet him, he greets them," Abraham said. "Employee engagement. You can just tell they're brighter, they're lighter."
Evans goes home with Lack each day and gets to be a "normal" dog on nights and weekends.
"He gets a little bored because it's just mom and dad," Lack said. "He doesn't get as much attention as normal. So Monday morning, he is usually pulling me to get into the hospital. He likes Monday mornings more than people do."
Baylor Scott & White has facility dogs at several of its hospitals through a unique collaboration with not-for-profit Canine Companions®.
