Stephanie Cooper Greenberg and her 3-year-old Dalmatian Olive visit a Johns Hopkins Hospital patient.

Johns Hopkins Medicine

This Friday, April 29, the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center will celebrate National Pet Therapy Day in the Children’s Center lobby from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital participates in the Pet Partners animal therapy program, which is based on research that says visits from pets can relieve some of the stress, pain and anxiety related to illness and hospital stays.

Stephanie Cooper Greenberg brings Olive, her 3-year-old Dalmatian, to visit both adult and pediatric patients at Johns Hopkins several times a week. “This is all about the love and the joy a dog can bring to a difficult situation,” says Cooper Greenberg, who has brought three different dogs to Johns Hopkins over the eight-year life of the program and is one of 15 volunteer dog-handler teams who visit patients at Johns Hopkins.

For a dog to become a Pet Partners therapy animal, he or she must be at least 1 year old with no history of aggression, must exhibit good obedience skills and must welcome interaction with strangers.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital welcomes media interested in covering this special event.

Dog-handler teams will visit the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in the lobby of The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center in celebration of National Pet Therapy Day.

WHO:
Teams of dogs and handlers will visit the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Patients and Johns Hopkins staff members will celebrate with the dog-handler teams.                        

WHEN:
Friday, April 29, 2016, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.                                           

WHERE:
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center lobby, 1800 Orleans St., Baltimore, MD 21287