Puppy love

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

How pet-assisted therapy benefits UCLA Medical Center patients
By Diana McKeon Charkalis, Lifestyle Editor


Lloyd Brown enjoys a visit from "Niko" during his stay at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. Therapeutic dogs are used to help lower patients stress and anxiety.

Lloyd Brown has been lying in bed at UCLA Medical Center since early November awaiting a heart transplant. And although he loves his wife, it's Lucy he's missing right now. And he can't stop talking about her.

"She's truly part of the family. We got her from a rescue center, and they said she was a Lhasa apso mix, but she's more a poodle than anything else," says the 64-year-old Lancaster resident, chuckling. "I want my heart so bad. I just want to go home and see my puppy dog."

Brown's love of his dog is evident, so it's no surprise that his eyes light up when Niko, a Shih Tzu, trots into the room with owner Jan Zeitinger. The duo are part of the People-Animal Connection, the animal-assisted therapy program that pays visits to more than 400 critically ill children and adults each month at the medical center.

Niko, who was freshly bathed and groomed the day before, goes straight to work, hopping up on the bed beside Brown. As he sits on clean linen that has been laid out for him, he and Brown stare at each other, eye to eye. Brown pets the dog and smiles, content for the moment. "You remind me of my Lucy."

Although Niko clearly brings joy to Brown, he's giving him medical help as well, according to a study released last month in Dallas at a meeting of the American Heart Association. The study, led by Kathie Cole, a nurse at UCLA Medical Center, showed that therapeutic dogs helped heart and lung function in heart failure patients by decreasing their levels of anxiety, stress, and heart and lung pressure.

"I think the results reflect how much people in our society value their pets," says Cole, who started the PAC program at the hospital in 1994. "I know I'm always much happier communicating with my dog under adverse conditions. When you come into the ICU, you miss your family and significant others. And for a lot of people, one of those significant others is a pet."

Cole and her colleagues studied 76 heart-failure patients who got either a visit from a volunteer, a volunteer plus a dog, or no visit. The scientists measured patients' physiological responses before, during and after the 12-minute visits.

Anxiety dropped 24 percent for those visited by the dog and volunteer team, but only by 10 percent for those visited by just a volunteer. The scores for the group with no visit remained the same.

Levels of epinephrine, a hormone the body makes when under stress, dropped about 17 percent in patients visited by a person and a dog, and 2 percent in those visited just by a person. But levels rose about 7 percent in the group that didn't get visitors.

Heart pressure dropped 10 percent after the visit by the volunteer and dog. It increased 3 percent for those visited by a volunteer and 5 percent for those who got no visit. Lung pressure declined 5 percent for those visited by a dog and a volunteer. It rose in the other two groups.

Although animal-assisted therapy has previously been shown to reduce blood pressure in both healthy and hypertensive patients, this new study helps strengthen the credibility of using dogs therapeutically.

"The most important thing about the study is that although it's something we all suspected was true, it had never been proven in a scientific way," says Dr. Joshua Goldhaber, a professor of medicine at UCLA and medical director of the coronary care unit at the hospital. "Kathie Cole was able to take it that extra step and give it the scientific validity it otherwise wouldn't have had."

Patients enduring prolonged stays in the ICU can suffer from pain, discomfort and boredom. They're often lonely and can sometimes even get hostile, Cole says. The dog visits ease their stress and that of the medical staff around them, Goldhaber adds.

"When a dog walks in, everyone gets really excited, and their heads turn - and I'm just talking about the staff. They look forward to the dogs as much as the patients do. If you did a study, I think you'd find the anxiety level goes down in them as well."

On this day, 27-year-old heart transplant candidate Alfredo Castaneda of Chula Vista is feeling overwhelmed. But when Jackson, a fluffy golden retriever, gets up on his bed and leans into him, Castaneda's face softens.

"Having him here makes me forget everything else for a little bit," says Castaneda, who has rottweilers at home. `It's beautiful."

Jackson's last visit of the day is with Shawnee Brunt, 13, who has six Siberian huskies of her own at home in Phoenix. Shawnee suffered a heart attack earlier this year and has been at the medical center since September awaiting her second heart transplant. Her mouth curls into a broad smile as Jackson snuggles in bed with her, his deep brown eyes looking up at hers.

"This really brightens her day," says her mom, Shirley Holdorf, who adds that Shawnee sometimes gets a dog visit daily. "She has school for an hour every day, and she plays games and watches TV, but it's been a long wait. The dogs are all so sweet and so gentle, it makes her time here a lot better."