Meet the new dog who joined Penn State Health Children’s Hospital facility to assist young kids: Watch – PennLive

New facility dog helps patients at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital
Penn State Health Children’s Hospital added to their facility of assistant dogs, welcoming another furry friend to their pack.
Meet Captain, a 14-month-old golden retriever and newest four-legged companion to the facility.
He is assigned the task of helping pediatric patients receiving outpatient orthopedic, physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurophysiology services.
Captain arrived Monday, Nov. 21, to assist young children at 30 Hope Drive on the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center campus.
His primary handler, Michelle Flynn is also a certified child life specialist and she was very excited to find out Captain would be the first facility dog she’d have to work with.
“A lot of times when kids come in they think the doctor’s’ office can be scary and having a dog is something that is going to kind of immediately decrease that anxiety and automatically put a smile on a child’s face,” she said.
Derek Flynn, no relation to Michelle, is Captain’s secondary handler and a physician assistant in the Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics.
The Children’s Hospital’s purpose for these dogs is to provide individual services, helping children to cope with both major and minor hospital procedures.
The Children’s Hospital’s first canine companion was Kaia, a golden retriever who started back in October 2016, with the assignment of teaching children to be still on the CT scan table.
Kaia was the first full-time facility dog at a Children’s hospital in Pennsylvania.
Pilot, a black golden retriever, was the second facility dog to join the Children’s hospital just last year. Pilot’s job is to assist children in pediatric surgery and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
The dogs were raised at a facility in Georgia through a non-profit organization called Canine Assistants, Inc.
All dogs at the facility work up to 40 hours a week with children at the hospital, with time set aside to allow the animals proper exercise, walks, and rest time.
In addition to serving as a coping mechanism, these pet therapy dogs provide several children with a sense of companionship for a calming and therapeutic time at the hospital.
Watch the video to meet Captain and learn more about the new facility dog.
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