Pet Therapy Program

Caring for our patients and their family and offering compassion, comfort, and dignity are 24/7 Care at Home’s number one goal. In order to make sure our patients get the best possible care, we as an organization offer and provide our patients with many caring nurses, case managers, and volunteers who help carry out our mission to provide the patient with compassion, comfort, and dignity. One of the tools that our Hospice provides is the use of pet therapy.

Our Best Furry Friends program was designed to fit the needs of our patients and assist us in the patient’s overall care. Best Furry Friends is comprised of volunteers and their highly trained and licensed pet therapy dogs who make themselves available to visit patients when called upon to do so.

Whether our patients are being cared for in their own homes or residing in an assisted living facility, our goal is to accommodate our patient’s needs and are able to send trained therapy dogs and thoroughly screened handlers to our patients who would most benefit from Best Furry Friend visitation. Research has shown that positive interactions with animals is associated with lowering blood pressure, pain relief, stress relief, and joy. It has also been shown that it can raise the morale of patients increasing their motivation to thrive and lessens anxiety, unhappiness and pain. For example, we offer an American Shepherd named Elvis as one of our therapy dog volunteer, who is on call waiting for the next patient to offer unconditional love to. Due to American Shepherds having hair and not fur, Elvis does not shed and allergen is not something to worry about with our Best Furry Friends program. Therapy dogs and their owners are committed in visiting our patients and improving their quality of life. Pet therapy programs are widely used throughout organizations, and here at 24/7 Care at Home it is no different. Providing pet therapy is another way of ensuring patients with the best care possible.

Best Furry Friends (BFF) is an important tool in 24/7 Care at Home’s ability to offer the patient care with compassion, comfort, and dignity in our priority to extend the highest level of courtesy and services to the patient and their quality of life.