The Heel, Dog, Heal facility dog program at Norton Healthcare and Norton Children’s provides highly trained dogs and handlers to give comfort and support to patients and families during their time of need.
Facility dogs are specially trained, employed staff members who partner with a handler to work in a health care or educational setting.
The facility dogs and their handlers at Norton Healthcare and Norton Children’s received extensive and specialized training in order to partner together to provide comfort and support to patients and families.
Research shows that full-time, trained facility dogs can motivate a patient to be more mobile, lend a paw during distressing or painful procedures, encourage socialization and offer a calming presence during episodes of pain and/or anxiety. Our special dogs also assist in creating an environment that offers unconditional love and acceptance.
In order to receive a facility dog visit, a patient must:
Don’t be surprised to see our four-legged friends roaming around our Norton Healthcare and Norton Children’s facilities–– or even heading to meetings.
Follow our facility dogs on social media at #HeelDogHeal.
Norton Healthcare employs 11 facility dogs to support our adult and pediatric patients
The Heel, Dog, Heal program is solely funded by the generous donations of community members through the Norton Healthcare Foundation and Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation. If you would like to support the program click the “Give Now” button and select “Facility Dog Program.”