Baron with a patient
In her first week of work at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center about eight years ago, Kaia—a golden retriever—showed a 5-year-old boy in the radiology unit how to endure a CT scan with a brave face.
“I cried. The physician cried. The parents were so happy that it was done, and we didn’t have to come back then with him going under anesthesia,” said Ashley Kane, manager of the Child Life Program at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, who oversees the facility dog program and was Kaia’s primary handler.
Within a matter of days, Kaia, the first facility dog in the program, proved just how valuable she was to the team.
In June, nearly eight years after her first shift and a few months ahead of a planned retirement, Kaia unexpectedly died.
“Since Kaia’s passing, I have learned that her impact and scope of her reach was far greater than I ever realized,” Kane said. “Kaia broke down barriers and loved everyone she met unconditionally.”
Despite this tragic loss, Kaia paved the way for five other full-time facility dogs to start a career at Hershey Medical Center, each one having their own specialty on campus.
Skye, whose primary handler is Kelly Fuddy, staff care chaplain for Penn State Health, is one such working dog. The chaplains were added in 2022 to assist with the growing distress experienced among healthcare staff.
“We reserve Skye’s energy and compassion for caring for our staff,” Fuddy said, recognizing the myriad stressors associated with healthcare, including exposure to trauma, grief and moral distress. “Skye sometimes takes it upon herself in a debriefing or meeting to jump up on a chair next to someone she thinks needs some TLC.”
Another facility dog, Pilot, tends to patients in pediatric surgery and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Captain focuses on helping young kids at the orthopedics and neurophysiology pediatric specialty clinics. Thor works with adult patients in acute care and inpatients at Penn State Cancer Institute, often helping them maintain strength by walking around the halls with them. Baron’s main stomping ground is the pediatric inpatient oncology and hematology unit.
In her work with children in the pediatric radiology and radiation oncology units, Kaia often jumped on tables to show patients how to go about a certain procedure or exam without debilitating fear. Patients could hold her leash, pet her or simply feel comfort knowing she was around or—in the case of instances like X-rays, during which no one can be in the room with them—just outside of the door waiting for them to finish. The hardest part of her job may have been helping families and patients in end-of-life care.
Thor
This hard work explains the need for rest and decompression in a working facility dog’s day. Just like pets at home, these dogs get plenty of rest during their time at the hospital. While I talked to Kane just prior to Kaia’s death, Kaia slept under her desk for the entirety of the conversation.
“They need that rest to be able to absorb all the emotions that people are feeling,” Kane said.
Playtime, too, is important. The dogs often meet up at noon in a secure play area, where their handlers remove their vests, and they enjoy time with their colleagues. At home, they’re just pets, some with canine siblings who are full-time pets—though they do enjoy extra baths to keep clean for a medical environment.
People need rest, too, but getting out of the working mindset can be hard for staff at Penn State Health. That’s one of the ways Skye comes in handy.
“Skye can reach staff in emotional moments in a way we humans are more limited,” said Fuddy. “Sometimes, people don’t want to stop to talk, but Skye gives them a great excuse to stop, smile and step away for a moment.”
The chaplain team seeks to help staff in three key areas: crisis response, residual distress and resilience making. Skye is part of this endeavor, too. She visits some units monthly for so-called “cuddle huddles,” where team members can process difficult cases and let go of that weight.
In an anonymous impact survey, one staff member wrote about Skye, “Skye came to debrief with the nurses on my floor the day after we sent a child into foster care whom we had become really close with over his six-month admission. A handful of us felt very conflicted about decisions made on his behalf. We loved him dearly, but his care was driving us into burnout. I honestly did not feel like talking about anything. I was just ethically drained. I personally felt regulated just sitting and hugging little Skye. Sometimes, we need to talk through things, and sometimes this is all we need.”
On the patient care side, Kane said that her career has been amplified with the experience of serving as Kaia’s primary handler.
Kaia’s first day
“The loss of Kaia has only helped to strengthen our commitment to our facility dog program with our existing five full-time facility dogs and their handler teams as we realize their purpose and impact,” Kane said. “And as we had planned prior to Kaia’s death, we will continue to thoughtfully grow our facility dog program over time.”
To learn more, visit www.pennstatehealth.org/childrens/your-visit/support-services/facility-dog-program, and you can follow the facility dogs on Instagram at @pennstatehealthpups.
Photos courtesy of Penn State Health.
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