FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A new program at Parkview Health will help co-workers improve their workday and improve their mental health. Parkview Pups offers Parkview colleagues and their dogs the opportunity to become a certified therapy dog and handler team.
Parkview Pups is made up of approximately 30 Parkview co-workers and their dogs. Once certified, the team will be able to visit Parkview facilities and provide comfort and emotional support to colleagues.
Through this program, all canine companions are temperament tested and certified by Canine Good Citizen and Alliance of Therapy Dogs. Parkview Pups is fully funded by Parkview Foundations and has no cost to employees. It was Samuel, a 7-year-old golden retriever, that Parkview puppy WANE 15 chased around Tuesday.
Parkview is one of the only health systems in the country to provide therapy dogs to its employees.
Mike Brown, Samuel’s owner and handler, often tells Samuel to “make new friends” when meeting new people. Brown says this not only helps the employees, but also keeps Samuel in good health.
“I’ve seen that having a sense of purpose helps dogs, just like any other dog, and I think that helps,” Brown said. “We think it’s really beneficial for dogs to have something similar. You can see how happy and excited they are when they’re walking around or visiting other co-workers. ”
Parkview Pups is one of the benefits programs Parkview supports its more than 15,000 colleagues. Parkview also offers volunteer time off, which can be used for community volunteering or mental health time off.
In early August, the first four Parkview Pups teams to complete certification made their debut at the Parkview Leadership Meeting. 15 teams are expected to be certified by the end of September.
