Story and photos by Lisa Kaylor, Wellstar Children’s Hospital
Patients and employees at Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia celebrated the birthdays of the hospital’s most popular employees with a puppy birthday party Thursday. Casey turned 8 in July, and Nugget will be 10 on Aug. 19.
Party-goers cheered the dogs on in a whipped cream relay race in the hallway. Then guests
sang “Happy Birthday” to the dogs, who then were given puppy cupcakes. Patients in attendance
received party favors like stuffed dogs resembling the golden retrievers and coloring pages
with colored pencils.
Jumping in on the fun was Loretta Lynn, the newest facility dog at Wellstar Children’s. Loretta
Lynn is a 2-year-old black Labrador retriever mix that joins the Wellstar Children’s family, thanks
to generous grants from the American Cancer Society’s PAWS (Pups Assisting With Support)
program and ACE Hardware Foundation’s Helping Hands program.
“She was from the country music litter,” said Kym Allen, Child Life manager and Loretta Lynn’s
handler. “Her brothers and sister are Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline
and Dolly Parton.”
Allen went on to explain that the hospital does not choose the dogs’ names. Loretta Lynn was
named by Canine Assistants, the organization that trains facility dogs and their handlers to
provide support to patients in a hospital setting. They name puppies in their litters according to
themes.
These facility dogs undergo more rigorous training than therapy dogs brought in from other
volunteer groups. Puppies spend nearly two years in training, including a “residency” at a
children’s hospital. Then, the Child Life specialist who will “handle” the dog and a secondary
handler team attend in-person training for a week before the dog comes to the children’s
hospital.
Their care is more rigorous, as well. Because these dogs routinely see patients whose immune
systems may be compromised, they must be bathed and groomed frequently, and they are not
allowed in environments where they may be exposed to antigens they could bring into the
hospital.
So, that means no dog parks. However, on a given day, Nugget, Casey and Loretta
Lynn may pretend to be a patient while the Child Life Specialist helps a child understand their
upcoming procedure. Or, they may climb in bed with a patient and be petted for comfort as the
child receives a treatment.
“Pretty much anything that’s going to happen to a child before they take their special nap for
surgery, they can do to Casey, from putting a pulse oximeter on her paw pad like it’s a human
finger, or pretending to check Casey’s blood pressure. We even put an anesthesia mask over
her snoot,” said Harleigh Smith, a Child Life Specialist and Nugget’s handler.
Loretta Lynn will primarily visit pediatric hematology/oncology patients. While she’s just
beginning to see patients at Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia and the Wellstar Outpatient
Infusion Clinic on West Wheeler Road, she’s been around the children’s hospital and at Camp
Rainbow getting acclimated to her new environment.
“Loretta will certainly brighten the patients’ day and give them a chance to forget about hospital
stuff while visiting with her,” Allen said.
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