On Saturday, May 7, 2011, I met with Janet at Akron Children's Hospital for Gilda's first official Doggie Brigade visit. We arrived early and I could tell that Gilda was slightly stressed. She seemed nervous about new noises, flooring changes, carts moving, new smells, and probably some things that I was completely unaware of. After signing in at the Volunteer Office, we sat near the Locust Lobby. Despite her nerves, she was visibly excited each time a new person (especially a young one) appeared. She was eager to greet people with her tail wagging.
When Janet arrived, we walked to the Main Lobby and took the dreaded elevator to the 7th floor. After finding many rooms still darkened at 9:00am, we found a 1 year-old awake and sitting on the couch with his Mother. Gilda approached politely and sniffed the little boy's foot and the surrounding area. The patient had little reaction. While I was trying to get Gilda to touch his foot with her nose, the little guy suddenly let out a wail which startled Gilda (and me!) We ended that visit not wanting to upset the patient any further.
As we were walking down a hallway on the 6th floor, a family member asked if we could visit a young girl who was getting ready for surgery. The patient asked if Gilda could get on the bed with her so Janet went to the Clean Supply Room to get a clean sheet. Although Gilda was capable of jumping onto the bed, I chose to lift her up so that she wouldn't land on any part of the patient. In the past, when placed on a bed, Gilda has always curled up next to the patient. Today, however, she was quite tentative. I gave her the 'down' command and she obliged but was still quite stiff. As the patient was reaching to pet her, Gilda turned her head as far away as she could. I could tell that she wanted to get down but I tried to calm her so that the patient could pet her. I am not sure what was bothering her but it could have been many things. There were 4 or 5 visitors in the room, the little girl was wearing a pulse ox on one of her fingers which glows red, etc. I lowered Gilda to the floor and folded the sheet in toward the middle and dropped it into the Dirty Linen Bin in the patient's room. I made sure to give the patient some Hand Sanitizer since she did pet Gilda and we ended the visit.
Next, we walked across the hallway to visit a boy who was laying in bed. He seemed content to look at Gilda while she stood on the floor so we just had a brief visit that way.
By this time, we had taken the elevator 3 times and Gilda was pulling on the leash and acting skittish. Janet and I decided to walk back to the Volunteer Office to go over our training paperwork.
I was actually thrilled with the day. It takes Gilda some time to get used to new surroundings and what is expected of her in those surroundings and my goal was not to push her too far too fast. After all, if visiting isn't fun for Gilda then it's not going to be fun for the patients.
Next Saturday we will travel back to the hospital for the 2011 Doggie Brigade group photo! 95 dogs and their handlers are invited so it should be a riot...
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