FLORENCE – Galileo, Tia and Malì. Then there are Nina and Polpetta. There are five dogs, and their intervention, at the time of Covid, is prescribed by doctors as a real medicine, to help children in the treatment of a disease. We are at Meyer of Florence, one of the pediatric hospitals most advanced in Europe. Here too, as the pandemic strikes, the pressure is tremendous. Everything changed. And the first wave had also blocked the team of pet therapy, for years operating in the departments to support children, to help them react psychologically and even get back to moving after an operation. Those four-legged friends, from the largest to the smallest, went from one hug to another, alleviating the suffering of the children. Then it forced stop, because of Coronavirus.
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-ktAE-U3230790975165dNF-593x443@Corriere-Web-Sezioni.jpg?w=900&ssl=1 "Galileo greets a doctor from the Meyer pediatric hospital (photo: Giulia Righi)")
Galileo greets a doctor from the Meyer pediatric hospital (photo: Giulia Righi)–
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The absence of dogs, thanks to the drastic restrictions launched by a hospital open to patients from all over the world, it made itself felt immediately. A lack suffered not only by the little ones, but also by doctors and nurses, used to dissolve the tension even by stroking those puppies between visits. Thus the leaders of the pediatric have studied a new procedure, which despite the outbreak of the second wave allowed the five dogs to return to their old job, respecting an even stricter health protocol. Dogs can no longer run around from one department to another accompanied by operators, but it is the doctors who request the intervention of one of the dogs to comfort the most suffering children. And their human handlers undergo periodic swabs just like healthcare workers.
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Galileo makes friends with a girl in the clinic area (photo: Giulia Righi)–
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Each puppy, more or less large, has its own mission. Galileo is a large-sized flat coated retriever: his strong point is to convince a child, after an operation, to get out of bed with the excuse of taking a walk. And then there is Meatball, little mongrel, which, after disinfection with chlorhexidine like the others, can jump directly onto the bed of those who may not be able to move. «This is a real therapy for the little ones hospitalized even in very delicate wards such as intensive care or resuscitation – says Francesca Mugnai, president of the Antropozoa association, which has been working at Meyer since 2002 thanks to the support of the Meyer Foundation -. It is a very important support, especially in this period: towards dogs there is a totally different social suspicion than humans. There is no fear of getting infected. Dogs motivate children who have difficulty reacting ».
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A little patient of Meyer with Pudding, now “retired” (photo: Giulia Righi)–
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In the emotional desert caused by Covid, now the presence of the dog has become even more important on an emotional level, to motivate children to react. “Unfortunately, we cannot enter oncology for obvious reasons – adds Mugnai -, but we organize video meetings for those children. A little girl, these days, is making unexpected progress interacting with Polpetta, albeit remotely. He asks about the dog, he reacts to stimuli ». And it is always Polpetta that some time ago convinced a child to get out of bed, walking again after months. Sometimes even the dog is like a medicine that doesn’t work on the first administration. So the operators come back, try again and often make it. “During the first wave of Covid this activity was interrupted for fear – explains Maria Baiada, head of the play therapy activity of the Meyer Foundation -. But then, with the hospital “armored” compared to the outside, we realized that it was the same doctors and nurses who needed to have the dogs nearby, to be able to return to normal before the pandemic. And then i puppies they are often the only ones capable of convincing a child to have a puncture, a painful and annoying exam ».
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21 December 2020 (change December 21, 2020 | 07:24)
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