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K-9 VA VOLUNTEER IS A PROFESSIONAL
DAY-BRIGHTENER --
"She is such a joy to have here. It's the
highlight of
the day. We're all Allie's patients."
Story here...
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Story below:
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Professional day-brightener
Therapeutic dog comforts VA patients, staff
By Jill Callison
jcalliso@argusleader.com
It's understandable that Laura Jenson might feel a tiny bit invisible as
she walks down Sioux Falls VA Medical Center's halls.
No one lovingly coos "Hello, Sugar" to Jenson, or expresses concern that
she looks tired, or dips a hand into a desk drawer for a special treat
to tempt her appetite.
Her companion receives all that and more: tummy rubs, brisk pats and
kisses on the snout.
Allie, Jenson's German shepherd-mix dog, accepts all the attention with
furry-faced aplomb as she strides from staff member to staff member,
patient to patient.
She spends anywhere from a few seconds to a minute with each person,
giving them a break from stress or illness or unhappiness as only a dog
can.
Allie is a therapy animal. While the focus of a service animal such as a
seeing-eye dog is on its owner alone, Allie's focus during
animal-assisted activities is on everyone but Jenson, except when it's
time to obey commands.
Jenson calls Allie a professional day-brightener.
Since June, Jenson and Allie have visited the VA medical facility every
weekday.
Allie wears a green vest identifying her as being registered with the
Delta Society, a national group that works with service and therapy
animals.
Vest pockets hold spare treats and a portable water dish. Her collar
proclaims "Bark if you're Irish."
It's the decorations on Allie's vest that give clues as to her mission:
a POW-MIA patch, a red, white and blue ribbon, an angel-shaped pin and
an authentic ID badge issued by the VA Center's Renea Kindt.
"She's the perfect dog for this," Kindt says, bending over from her desk
chair to give Allie what Jenson describes as a full-body rubdown.
When 80-year-old LeRoy Naig of Graettinger, Iowa, seated in a wheelchair
near the nurse's desk, meets Allie, it gives him a chance to reminisce
about a dog in his past.
"Allie has brought a lot of joy to residents and staff," says Shirley
Redmond, public affairs officer for Sioux Falls VA Medical Center.
Employee Connie Voelker echoes Redmond's words as she fills a Styrofoam
cup for Allie to drink from, pouring from a gallon jug she keeps under
an office table.
"She is such a joy to have here," Voelker says. "It's the highlight of
the day. We're all Allie's patients."
For Allie, it's a long way from an animal shelter in Kansas. That's
where Jensen, 24, was studying for her master of social work degree from
the University of Kansas when she found her.
Jensen, who returned to Sioux Falls in June, first took Allie with her
when her training took her to a juvenile detention center.
Her research study on the effects of animals on juveniles showed they
did better in therapy with Allie there than with Jenson alone.
The next year, Jenson's studies took her to a prison. Again, the dog
made a difference.
But it wasn't just with the inmates. Shortly before her training ended,
a guard who had served tours in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan
told her how much those brief visits with Allie had stabilized his
emotions.
"It broke my heart to hear what five minutes once a week had meant to
him," Jenson said. "He hated his job, but he kept coming because every
Friday he'd see Allie."
Jenson's father is a veteran. Through him, she has become familiar with
visits to veterans facilities and knows they can stretch out to several
hours.That is one reason why she brings Allie up to the VA center every
weekend, to help make that time pass a bit faster for veterans and their
families awaiting assistance.
"I don't ask people to tell me why they're there," Jenson says. "But
they'll pet the dog and tell me how pretty she is and it's a little
therapy session that just makes them feel better."
Seeing Allie reminds the patients there's life outside the hospital, she
said.
"One woman told me, 'You'll never know how much she helped me,' " Jenson
says.
Another patient told her she'd come just at the right time; he was
feeling sad, missing his own animals.
Allie's visits gradually expanded to include staff members, many of whom
now keep dog treats in their desk drawers. They wait to hear the jingle
of her dog tags as she prances down the hall to their offices.
"Now there's only two offices we don't stop by," Jenson says. "If we
miss somebody, we hear about it the next day."
When Allie puts on the vest, she becomes a different dog than her usual
exuberant self, Jenson says.
"With the vest on, she knows it's not time to screw around," she says.
"There's work to do."
Jill Callison's column runs every Thursday. Reach her at 331-2307.
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Larry Scott --
