It Just Gets Better

Hello all,

Mrs. Patti and Rocco

This was another great week with the infamous Hand In Paw! This week, I had the opportunity of shadowing a team, Mrs. Patti and Rocco (right), at the Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs. 
This particular facility serves children, ages 0-3 with developmental delays and other disabilities. Rocco did an amazing job interacting with the children. There was a group of three and a group of two children involved in the therapy session. Rocco's job was to pretend to be the sheep in the story that was being read aloud to the children called Sheep in a Jeep. All of the children got to count out one treat for Rocco and each took turns pouring him water into a bowl with the assistance of their instructor. The children's faces lit up as soon as they layed eyes on Rocco and this did not change throughout the duration of the therapy visit. 

Today, I completed the Pet Partners Team Training Course for the Delta Society. Pet Partners offers this course online. However, Hand In Paw requires that rather than taking this course online, you attend the workshop. The workshop was very informative. We were educated on many of the purposes behind the rules and regulations, as well as participate in many visiting scenarios that were acted out by the instructors. We all got a chance to role play, which turned out to be the most helpful due to the fact that the scenarios were set up based on what you may encounter in a hospital setting. Overall, the workshop turned out to be a huge success!

Okay, everyone. Here is a recap of my journey with Hand In Paw thus far. I have attended a pet screening, two shadow visits at Hall-Kent Elementary School and the Bell Center, and a workshop. What's next? Before I am a certified TVA, I must take a test and register with Pet Partners and complete one more shadow visit. I thought that I had to attend the evaluations in December, as well. Today, I found out that TVA 's are not required to partake in these events. It is strictly for the prospective therapy teams. 

Infection control was talked about in great detail at the workshop today. Once I begin visiting hospitals, I can use this valuable information gained at the workshop to better meet the needs of this organization. I was informed that at a hospital, the infection control measures are much more strictly implemented than compared to, say schools involved in the Sit, Stay, and Read program due to the compromised immune systems of the patients in the hospital. This makes a lot of sense. Although hand sanitizer was given to the students at the Bell Center at the end of the session, more strict infection control measures can be observed in an actual hospital. With that being said, my next shadow visit will definitely be at a hospital. Actually, many of my future visits will be in a hospital setting to evaluate infection control measures more in depth. Although this light should have already gone off in my head, I am thankful that it went off at the workshop today. Better late than never, right? I will tell you guys more next week!