Dogs helping to heal patients in Kentucky hospital system – Spectrum News 1

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Juno is a Norton Healthcare employee who looks a bit different than her colleagues. 
Instead of a lab coat, she wears a coat of fur and has four legs — the main difference that separates this dog from her clients. 
Juno’s presence can light up a room, calming patients who are potentially undergoing stressful and painful procedures and treatments. 
“It reduces anxiety and stress in the hospital, they can show blood pressure decrease in the hospital and some of our patients have reported that they have had better nights sleep,” Heather Stohr, the Child Life/ Expressive Therapies Manager for Norton Healthcare, said. 
A seasoned employee, Juno is no stranger to doing what her patients need. 
Physical pain, stress about procedures, beeping monitors — Juno takes matters into her own paws when sensing patients in distress.  
“A parent telling me that they haven’t seen their child laugh or smile like that since they’ve been here because they have been in some pain. So this has reduced some of that pain and stress,” Stohr said.  
And like any skilled business professional, Juno went through extensive training before becoming a facility dog at Norton Healthcare.  
Juno and her coworkers were trained through Paws with Purpose. They were trained at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women. On the weekends, they went on outings to the mall or grocery store to get used to sights and sounds that weren’t found in the prison system. 
“During the dog’s training life, they have a puppy trainer which will pick them up on the weekends and the job of the puppy trainer is to really socialize the dog,” Storh said. 
There are five dogs which work with the pediatric hospitals and five which visit the adult hospitals and they hope to grow the team. 
The Heel Dog, Heal Program is funded through donations to the Norton Healthcare and Norton Children’s Hospital Foundations. If you are interested in giving, click here.

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