A local man left paralysed after a stroke was moved to an aged care facility for specialised care.
As he settled into his new surroundings, a therapy dog passed by his room.
His wife, knowing how much he missed their own dog at home, signalled to the handler to come inside and place the small dog gently on her husband’s chest.
A single tear fell down his cheek.
It’s moments like these – small, yet profound – that the dogs and handlers at Loganlea’s Empower Assistance Dogs help to create every day.
The charity has been providing support of this kind to local schools, businesses, and health facilities since 2016.
And now, thanks to a generous donation from a local law firm, three therapy dogs will begin making monthly visits to Logan Hospital, extending their comfort and care to even more people in need.
“The therapy program is all about providing support via animal-assisted interventions for people with any kind of emotional well-being needs,” founder of Empower Assistance Dogs Tracey Murray said.
“So it may be a patient who is struggling and needs emotional support or maybe the staff have had a really bad day – there is a whole range of things we can do to provide support.
“Over the years, I have seen people that have not been communicating with medical staff that have suddenly started communicating because of the interaction with the dog.
“They are patting and chatting, and often they will tell the handler things they didn’t even realise they were going to be telling them.”
Ms Murray said there were varied interactions with the dogs, which undergo extensive training.
She said the handlers, led by team coordinator Emma Arnold, were also trained and “very giving people”.
“We have to make sure our handlers are trained really well because they do a variety of different jobs, going into hospices and all sorts of things,” she said.
“Our handlers give so much of their time.”
While the dog is the uniting factor in the interaction, Mr Murray said the responsibility and empathy lies with the handler.
“Usually the handlers are taking on more than what they thought they would – there is no point having the dog if you don’t have a human who can interact,” she said.
The dogs have also proved to be a success with school students.
“A dog is non-judgemental, so you don’t have the same pressure on you to interact with an animal as you do with a human,” Ms Murray said.
“School avoidance, behavioural escalations – it all helps to have professionally trained, safe and reliable dogs.
“Our handlers are also trained to know when they have to pass information across for safety and they all sign confidentiality agreements so they are not breaching anyone’s privacy.”
Empower Assistance Dogs also trains dogs in assitance and therapy.
“We are very active in the Logan community – we live here, our head office is here and we wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Ms Murray said.
