Meet Nacho and Corrin! These are the first two members of UI Children's new Facility Dog Program! Nacho and Corrin are full-time members of the UI care team with extensive, specialized education in providing care to pediatric patients. The dogs and their child life specialist visit patients and their families with the goal of helping with healing and coping during hospital stays. ISUDM is honored to be funding such an impactful program!
Beginning in 2023, the program has had amazing success in its first year. The facility dogs provided goal-based, outcome-focused interventions for patients and families seeing between 200-300 patients each month - both inpatient and outpatient! They help children overcome fear, stress, and anxiety to achieve their
healthcare goals.
Along with the interventions, the dogs are both involved in many events that take place at the hospital each month. For example, they have done a NICU Parent Group Day, visited Dance Marathon Events, participated in "The Wave", gone to The Grove Tree Decorating Event for the holidays, and been a part of many daily patient activities like bingo, arts, and crafts.
An unexpected benefit of the program has been the positive impact on the hospital staff! As we all know, healthcare workers have demanding jobs that can be stressful at times, but these two pups have brought cheer and comfort to the folks who are making a difference in kids' lives each and every day.
We know the dogs have a huge impact on many of the children and families that visit the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital, but we have gotten to see some of their impact first hand through the impact that Nacho and Corrin have had on the Miracle Families that We support.
One story of the importance of this program is Cooper's. Cooper is a miracle kid well-known at Iowa State for leading The Griddy at DM events and challenging college students to anything from dance contests to fundraising challenges - and he never loses a challenge. He met Nacho while in the hospital for Leukemia treatment.
For anyone, chemotherapy is not a fun time, but for an active 11-year-old boy who just wants to be playing basketball with his friends, having to go through treatment and spend hours upon hours at the hospital can feel like the worst thing in the world. Nacho brought some comfort while he wasn't feeling his best and the two formed a special relationship that helped get Cooper through his hospital visits.
While Nacho was there to comfort Cooper through some of the hard times, he also came to celebrate successes!
On August 5, 2024 Cooper had a celebration of two super exciting events! One was his twelfth birthday - a party that Nacho came well dressed to celebrate with him, but the second was ringing the bell signifying the end of his chemo treatment! It was so special to have his pal Nacho with him!
This story is just one of the stories of the hundreds of patients' lives touched by the facility dog program. Dance Marathon at Iowa State is proud to be a part of such an impactful program and we can't wait to see how the dogs continue to improve the experiences for kids and families across Iowa!