CHCS - Perspectives Winter/Spring 2016

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 45 Her poster, “Innovative Use of Animal-Assisted Therapy as a Tool to Facilitate Geriatric Client Inter- action,” was the result of a collabora- tion between Ximena Tapia, PT, Arora’s clinical instructor at Memorial Hospital South during her first clinical internship, and Shari Rone-Adams, D.B.A., M.H.S.A., PT, director of the D.P.T. Program in Fort Lauderdale. The purpose of their poster was to describe the innovative use of animals to assist older patients in physical therapy at Memorial Healthcare System. What is animal-as- sisted therapy, and why is it so unique? Animals bring joy and happiness to billions of people; therefore, using animals therapeutically is one way to really engage people with disabilities in their physical therapy in a truly functional and meaningful way. For example, after a stroke, some individuals tend to neglect the impaired side of their bodies. The therapist can ask the patient to walk with the dog on the impaired side, giving the patient an adorable, four-legged reason to pay attention to that side of the body. The sounds of four paws walking alongside the patient, or the pull of the leash, are exactly the type of external cues that will help the patient look or “attend” to a neglected side. Just taking the dog for a walk gives someone in an inpatient rehabilitation setting a good reason to get out of his or her hospital bed or wheelchair. Animals can help decrease emotional distress and assist with improving perceptual deficits, apathy or depression, low motivation, and poor initiation. They are used to address physical impairments such as ataxia, limited endurance, and poor balance. The therapeutic dog often lives with a certified trainer, who also works in the hospital. Additionally, there are logistics involved with integrating an animal into therapy, including prescreening the patient for fears, allergies, or other precautions and using appropriate infection control policies. According to Arora, the key ingredient for using animals to assist in therapy is for the clinicians to be creative and think outside the box. One strategy Arora and Tapia used was to incorporate the dog in balance training. They asked a patient to brush the dog, strategically placing the dog in positions that progressively challenged the patient’s balance. If you’re a dog lover, you know that reaching down and forward to brush, pet, or hug a dog is a lot more fun and rewarding than picking up an inanimate object. In her second internship, Arora designed a laminated business card for patients and caregivers describing the warning signs of autonomic dysreflexia—a life-threat- ening condition that impacts people with spinal-cord injuries. She also created a home exercise box filled with exercises, therapy bands, and other devices for patients being discharged from therapy. The internship site has adopted Arora’s prototype and now gives it to all patients upon discharge. ■ According to Kantica Arora, D.P.T., the key ingredient for using animals to assist in therapy is for the clinicians to be creative and think outside the box.