Resorter, Friday, April 3, 2015, Page 6

Therapy Dog Flash spreads joy throughout Wild Rose Each month the residents of Rosemore Village Retirement Community in Wild Rose prepare for one of their favorite visitors. This guest is not like most, but when he arrives he brings love and smiles while making his way from room to room. The special visitor who attracts so much at-tention is Flash, a 10-year-old registered therapy dog. His owner, Tammy Simons, Wild Rose, visits Rosemore as often as she can with Flash in hopes of brightening the residents’ day. “Hospice patients seem to have less pain and depression when he visits. They tend to be calmer,” said Simons. After seeing an article in her church bulletin for dog/handler teams, Simons thought she should have Flash assessed since he had a gentle disposition and

was good around people and children. “We had to go to an assessment class first tosee if he could pass the basic commands of sit, stay, down, and how he interacted with people he did not know,” she said. “Then, we had a three-day class and went to a nursing home to see how he interacted or if he was afraid of different noises and oxygen equipment and wheelchairs.” Simons and Flash received their therapy dog registration 2 ½ years ago through ThedaCare At Home (TCAH) and Comfort Canine LLC. TCAH offers hospice care in Waupaca, and in 2012 brought in the Neenah-based Canine Comfort LLC to help register local therapy dogs. Molly Johnson, Canine Comfort LLC owner and consultant, has been a hospice volunteer since 1996 and started the program 8 ½ years ago. She be-lieves whole-heartedly therapy dogs offer patients importantpsychosocialbenefits. Johnson has seen therapy dogs go into hospice

centersandhelppatientsreflectontheirlives, which often bring out stories. “Seeing the dog allows patients the opportunity for life review and child-hood pets,” said Johnson. “Therapy dogs provide a distraction from the physical and mental issues patients feel through-outtheday.Thedogsfillananimalcom-panionship need. Pets are an important part of family across the board.” Johnson added, “Patients often con-fideintheanimalsratherthanapersonlate in life because they are afraid of hurting others. Animals have no judg-ment and patients often benefit fromtalking to the dog.” Canine Comfort LLC follows a stringent training criterion for the safety of the handler, patients, and dog. The handlers and dogs invited to attend train using Therapy Dogs Inc.’s training re-quirements, the highest liability train-ing available for therapy dogs, and as an additional requirement must pass the American Kennel Club Good Citizen training. The dogs and handlers who graduate from the program become reg-istered with the Therapy Dogs Inc. na-tional registry. Ninety-fivepercentofwhatCanineComfort LLC is looking for in their therapy dogs is “dogs who love people more than life itself. The other 5 percent are basic behaviors,” said Johnson. “We do a lot of prescreening on the phone. Once we have screened the han-dler and the dog, we will invite them for a hospice training assessment in Appleton and Waupaca,” explained Johnson. “We are primarily looking for calm and polite animals that are great with people and comfort-able with unfamiliar people. Some dogs may not be ready due to maturity and about half of the people screened are invited to the training.” To become registered as a therapy dog, Simons and Flash as well as the other dogs and handlers, train for a total of 12 hours through Canine Comfort LLC, with eight hours focused on handler training without the dog. Upon passing his training and receiving his registration, Simons began bringing Flash on visits to homes, hospitals, hospice centers, schools, and libraries. Last year, Simons took Flash to a local elemen-taryschooltohavefirstgradersreadtohim.Whilethe children are reading, she observed some students become more relaxed and comfortable. As Flash began visiting Rosemore, Simons no-ticed attitudes of many residents began to change.

She witnesses many smiles and has received numer-ous compliments on how Flash brightened their day or helped them to relax. When Rosemore Village Activities Director Tim Remmel began in October 2014, Simons and Flash were already regular visitors. He continues to make it a point to publicize Flash’s visits in the monthly newsletter. On the day of Flash’s visit Remmel makes an announcement on Flash’s pending arrival. “When they hear he is coming they sit around and wait, and when Flash comes through the door they get excit-ed,” he said. Remmel says 95 percent of the residents who live at the retirement village want to have Flash come visit them. “I’ve noticed that the ones who are kind of feeling under the weather, the day he comes they often have a smile on their faces the rest of the day,” he said.

Tammy Simons visits Rosemore Village Retirement Community in Wild Rose with therapy dog Flash once or twice a month to interact with the residents. Flash is a 10 year-old German Shepard mix registered with

Therapy Dogs Inc. and is a popular visitor among the residents.

By Katie Schaefer, News Editor

Beverly Monson receives a kiss from Flash during a visit to Rosemore Village, Wild Rose, on March 24.

Rosemore Village resident Mary Schmidt feeds Flash a treat during his March 24 visit to the retirement community.

Viona Jorgenson and Ruth Evans met Flash and his owner, Tammy Simons, in the hallway during a visit to the Rosemore Village Retirement Community on March 24. While interacting with Flash, they fed him treats and received numerous kisses.