Pets bring comfort to palliative patients at St John of God Bunbury Hospital

Specially trained dogs will visit and comfort patients on the palliative care ward as part of St John of God Bunbury Hospital's new 'Palliative Paws Program.'

23 Sep 2016

23 September 2016

Palliative Care Specialist Dr Carolyn Masarei and her husband Michael will lead their Golden Retrievers Rigsby and Daisy, who have been specially trained to be able to visit patients in a hospital setting.

The program is the brainchild of Granada Nurse Unit Manager Kerry Smith and Clinical Nurse Specialist Eileen Harris.

The program will be funded by the inaugural Lynne Anderson Scholarship. The scholarship was introduced in 2015 at the wish of valued St John of God Bunbury caregiver, Lynne Anderson, who sadly lost her battle with cancer in 2015. Lynne had many years' experience as a Registered Nurse specialising in Oncology treatments. She pioneered the development of cancer services in Bunbury and the South West, alongside Dr Martin Buck, in the 15 years prior to her diagnosis.

Lynne's wish was for patients receiving treatment for serious illnesses at St John of God Bunbury Hospital to have access to non-health related therapies or services.

Pictured is Jane Parker, who was an inpatient at St John of God Bunbury Hospital several times over the last few years. Just two weeks before she passed away in July, Jane was visited on the ward by Rigsby and Daisy. Jane’s beautiful expression captures the connection she had with her special visitors and Rigsby was certainly comfortable and content in Jane’s presence, and in his role as a visitor to the hospital.

Thank you to Dr Masarei, Michael, Rigsby, Daisy, Kerry and Eileen for bringing the wishes of Lynne Anderson to fruition.