SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
Doctors and nurses have been dealing with high levels of burnout and stress. One hospital in Denver is trying something new – bringing specially trained dogs to work alongside staff. Studies have found petting a dog can quickly reduce physical effects of stress. Colorado Public Radios John Daley reports from Denver.
JOHN DALEY, BYLINE: Outside Denver’s Rose Medical Center, the snow is flying. Inside, third floor, labor and delivery, there’s a flurry of activity.
KRISTINA FRASER: There’s a lot of action up here. It can be very stressful at times.
DALEY: I start an interview with Dr. Kristina Fraser, an OBGYN in blue scrubs. But just then, nurses wheel a very pregnant mom right past us.
FRASER: And we’re going to bring a baby into this world safely. And off we go.
DALEY: And you’re – you’ve had a calming moment.
FRASER: I’ve had a calming moment, yes.
DALEY: That calming moment came just a few minutes earlier as she sat on the floor.
FRASER: Hi, baby.
DALEY: Well, not a human baby. A pair of dogs, tails wagging, arrived at a nursing station, causing about a dozen medical professionals to melt into a puddle of affection. A yellow Lab named Peppi showered Fraser in kisses.
FRASER: I don’t know if the human babies smell as good as that puppy breath (laughter).
DALEY: The dogs aren’t visitors. They work here, too, specifically for the benefit of the providers, Fraser says. The hospital pairs the dog with a staff member, and the two stay together throughout the shift.
FRASER: I feel like that dog just walks on, and everybody takes a big deep breath and gets down on the ground and has a few moments of just decompressing, and it’s great. It’s amazing.
DALEY: Peppi’s handler is Susan Ryan, an MD here at Rose. She says she developed PTSD from years as an emergency physician. Ryan says doctors and other providers are good at hiding their struggles and have to compartmentalize.
SUSAN RYAN: How else can I go from a patient who had a cardiac arrest, deal with the family members telling them that, and go to a room where another person is mad that they’ve had to wait 45 minutes for their ear pain? And I have to flip that switch.
DALEY: She thought a dog could help. Her colleagues say they’ve benefited, too. Here’s EMT Jasmine Richardson and nursing supervisor Eric Vaillancourt
JASMINE RICHARDSON: I know when I have a bad day at work, and I come to Rose and Peppi’s here, my day is going to be made better.
ERIC VAILLANCOURT: We’re trying to help people that are in bad shape. So when Peppi comes around, you sort of release that tension.
DALEY: Ryan says another dog, Wynn, was working with her during the height of the pandemic.
RYAN: I mean, we had new nurses that had never seen death before, and now they’re seeing a COVID death, and we were worried sick we’re dying.
VAILLANCOURT: And it made a difference.
RYAN: It’s saved people.
DALEY: She says there’s virtually no bite risk with the carefully trained Labradors, the preferred breed for this work. The dogs are kept away from allergic patients, washed regularly to prevent germs spreading and people must wash hands before and after petting them. Studies have documented a mental health crisis among health care workers. Susan Ryan says her hospital has lost physicians to suicide. She hopes the canine connection can help with trauma.
RYAN: Anything that brings you back to present time helps ground you again. You can get down on the ground, pet them, and you just get calm.
DALEY: Even if it’s just a sliver of their day, Ryan says, it gives providers a little reprieve.
For NPR News, I’m John Daley in Denver.
(SOUNDBITE OF EZRA COLLECTIVE’S “WHY I SMILE”)
MCCAMMON: This story comes from NPR’s reporting partnership with Colorado Public Radio and KFF Health News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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