Our Services
Celebrating Nurse’s Week by Rounding with the Dogs at St. Francis Hospital
Our Services
Terri is a Certified Human Animal Intervention Specialist (CHAIS), from the Oakland University School of Nursing. We’ve worked in the field of Animal Assisted Therapy since 1996, visiting patients, evaluating animal assisted activity/animal-facilitated visitation teams, and implementing and coordinating Animal Assisted Activity programs in a hospitals, we offer healthcare facilities the following services:
Consultation and Implementation of Animal Assisted Therapy Programs
- Educate leadership and train staff on the elements of an Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) policy to maximize the benefits of animal assisted interventions in their setting.
- Assist with policy development and implementation.
- Support implementation of new programs and review current programs including:
- Screen and recommend AAA/AAT vendor for new programs
- Evaluate new AAA/AAT teams and re-evaluate current AAA/AAT volunteer teams
- For hospitals with an AAA program who want to add an AAT program, identify teams that can make this transition and provide training and visit shadowing
- Train leadership, managers and vendor volunteer teams
Education and Speaking
We speak at healthcare professional associations and to healthcare leaders and professionals about Animal Assisted Therapy, using research-based information, experience, and anecdotal evidence through story telling. If you are located within a one day drive of the San Francisco Bay Area, dogs will be provided for an added treat to attendees! This includes most of California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state.
Recent speaking engagements on Animal Assisted Therapy include:
- St. Francis Memorial Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
- Diablo Valley College, Concord, CA
- Association of California Nurse Leaders, Anaheim, CA
- California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
- Samuel Merritt University School of Nursing
“Terri’s talk on Animal Assisted Therapy was awesome!”
“Terri’s workshop was inspiring and informative. She knows what she’s talking about and I walked away with great ideas for our program.”
“Terri came to our hospital for Nurse’s Week. She spoke about animal assisted therapy and then went “Rounding with the Dogs.” What a great day for staff! Such a treat for us!”
Getting ready to speak at the Assoc. of CA Nurse Leaders in Disneyland. (Consulting, one dog to another…)
At ACNL conference, Tammy Merrill at the Stryker booth, demonstrates how dogs fit perfectly on hospital beds!
Even 60 lb dogs can provide a sense of “home” in a hospital bed, as demonstrated by Tammy Merrill on her Stryker bed at the ACNL conference.