Marquette General Dog Therapy Partnership

 

 

We have a variety of resources
to help you...


How to Start a Program

The Upper Michigan Dog Therapy Partnership has the expertise to assist you in setting up a program that will allow dogs to successfully visit health care facilities. We have expertise in program design, implementation, administration and evaluation. Need help with development of policy and procedures? Are you unsure about risk management issues such as infection control? We can help! Need licensed Pet Partners to visit your new program? We can help with that as well.

Infection Control and Related
Risk Management Issues

Infection control issues can seem insurmountable."Knee-jerk-reactions"; about animals in health care setting are common. "Those dogs will give our patients diseases," is often heard. Likewise, other risk management issues, such as concern over animal bites, are raised.

Do not let concerns about animals interacting with patients mislead you from the facts. Domesticated animals that are animals that are healthy, friendly, have current vaccinations and are appropriate to interact with patients in health care settings. Evaluation programs for determining appropriateness of domesticated animals to interact with health care patients, such as Delta Society's Pet Partners Program, significantly mitigate issues such as the risk of biting or scratching.

The Partnership's expertise in the area of infection control will empower you with scientifically based information so you can provide facts about risk management to individuals and alleviate unjustified concerns.

 




Napoleon
Napoleon

Amos
Shari Smith-OTR and
Kathi Ozusik
Pet Partner, and Amos

Arlo
Ed and Arlo going up?

Pet Partner Licensure Evaluations

Why get Pet Partners licensure? Licensure lets the dog handler - usually the dog's owner - and the dog know they are ready for volunteer involvement within a health care facility. Licensure communicates confidence to health care facilities the handler visit. Facilities and their patients and residents know the handler and dog are educated, competent volunteers and the dog truly enjoys interacting with people. Pet Partners licensure provides a 1 million dollar liability insurance policy.

Licensure to Evaluate Pet Partners Teams

Do you need Pet Partners to participate in animal assisted activity and therapy program? Do you want to be able to use a standards based program to evaluate dogs and their owners for appropriateness to interact in health care settings? If your answered to these questions is YES, then you need to become licensed to provide Delta Society Pet Partners evaluations.

The partnership has the Delta Society Pet Partners Educators on staff to provide you with the education and related experiences needed to become a Delta Society Pet Partners Evaluator.

Research

Clinical observation has lead many health care professionals to believe animal assisted therapy is a positive and powerful asset in the therapeutic treatment of patients. However, research validating these observations is absent for the most part.

Are you a health care professional who wants to develop a clinical research project that examines Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and functional outcomes? Are you a college professor or professional student looking to research AAT theory? We can help you.

The partnership has expertise in the area of AAT research methodology. We also have a large AAT reference base. If you need assistance with the development of academic research endeavors we have the experience to make your job easier.

Secondary Education Curriculums

The future of animal assisted activity and therapy (AAA/T) is dependent on the education of health care professionals.

The Partnership has the expertise and experience to develope AAA/T curriculums to assist students in effectively and efficiently learning about AAA/T. We can provide you with detailed lesson plans that address AAT theory, research methods, programming and clinical application. We can custom also tailor curriculums to meet the special needs of any health care profession.

Continuing Education

As a therapist, how do you recognize stress in an animal? How do you integrate an animal's skills with typical treatments provided to patients? How do you document AAT treatment? Make no mistake, providing animal assisted therapy treatment is a skill. As such, developing and providing effective treatments that involve patients and animals can be a rewarding but challenging proposition. The Partnership can educate therapists to prepare and deliver effective AAT treatment.

Educating Health Care Professionals About Animal Assisted Therapy

Would you like to help health care professionals learn how to utilize animal assisted therapy? Do you have experience in the use of animal assisted therapy and are interested in providing education? Are you an instructor for health care professionals that would like to have a curriculum to integrate into your current classroom format?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then becoming a licensed Delta Society Animal Assisted Therapy 1 Educator is the right choice for you. The partnership has Delta Society AAT1 Education Trainers available to provide an interactive 4-hour course to prepare you to teach the Delta Society AAT1 Course yourself.