2023-12-22 18:01:00
Pedro Salazar, a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the National University Hospital, receives a visit from his dog Tomy.
Photo: National University Hospital
In April of this year, Pedro Salazar, a citizen resident of the city of Bogotá, suffered a double heart attack that led him to be in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). They were difficult times: they performed open heart surgery, he got pneumonia and mightn’t walk. However, the unconditional support of his family, especially his dog Tomy, gave Pedro the necessary strength to move forward.
“During recovery my whole family came to see me. Not being alone and having family in the room is too comforting. Then came the big surprise. My daughter arranged all the permits with the hospital and they brought Tomy to me. He arrived happy, with her tail wagging happily and my happiness was greater,” says Pedro.
Tomy is a Creole dog who came into Pedro’s life four years ago. He adopted him from a shelter six months following his former pet, a canine named Niko, died of old age. “We already knew the affection that dogs give to the members of a home. And so we became fond of Tomy, we brought him for approximately 3 months. At first he gave us work because a young dog is messy and playful. But it adapted to each member of the family and we all adapted to it,” he recalls.
Nancy Salazar, Pedro’s sister, assures that he and his pet are inseparable. They always play, walk and sunbathe together. She was present the day Tomy visited Pedro in the hospital. According to her story, being close to her pet was essential for her brother’s recovery.
“When the little dog saw it, he almost had a heart attack with joy. Tomy’s licks towards my brother were very happy, both for one and the other. The doctors who were present were delighted to see such reciprocal love. My brother’s joy at being able to see his pet helped him a lot. When there is love between a person and a pet, it helps a lot for recovery,” says Nancy.
This special meeting between caregiver and pet was possible thanks to the “Huellas que sanan” program of the National University Hospital of Colombia (HUN), where Pedro was hospitalized. This initiative was designed to facilitate a process of personal pet visits to patients with a prolonged stay (greater than 15 days), in order to improve their physical, psychological and social conditions.
Dr. Jairo Pérez, director of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at HUN, explains that the ICU is a space with a fairly high emotional load, so pet visits bring benefits to patients with chronic pathologies and prolonged hospitalizations, helping them reduce anxiety, stress and pain.
“There is a bed and a number of machines, ventilators, monitors, infusion pumps with alarms, things that most people have never seen. There is a lot of movement, both during the day and at night, because critical patients are handled. Support in these cases is essential. One component was missing and it was the pets, which today are part of the family. Why not make it easier for them to enter the ICU in such a difficult situation?” explains Dr. Pérez.
The “Healing Footprints” program began with a specific request. Relatives of a patient who had been admitted to the ICU for a stroke asked the medical staff if it was feasible for her pet, a canine named Dino, to visit her. According to what they said, the patient loved her pet more than any other member of the family. “That’s when we said ready, come on. We consulted with a veterinarian to know what requirements the pet should have and, for our part, what we did was begin to apply the same biosafety measures that we used to enter the unit,” says Dr. Pérez.
According to Natalia Corredor, head of user experience (UX) at HUN, the patient in a state of induced coma, who had not previously responded to any stimulus, began to move her hands to caress Dino, which meant a great deal to the doctors. improvement. That experience, according to Corredor, was an important point for leaving pet visits as something permanent in the hospital. Since then, any patient who is hospitalized for a period of more than 15 days (not necessarily in the ICU) can request admission of their pet.
Benefits of animals for ICU patients
According to Dr. Pérez, companion animals not only bring emotional and social benefits, they are also essential in the patient’s rehabilitation. “Mainly in neurological diseases, the fact of being able to come into contact, to touch the pet, to feel it, is a stimulus for the brain. Not only is it company, not only is it emotional compensation, it is also rehabilitation from a physical point of view,” reports the doctor.
What began as an exceptional case became something common and an emblem of the hospital. To date, according to Corredor, the HUN Intensive Care Unit has received visits from 31 dogs and one cat. Any person, patient or family member, can request admission of their pet to the hospital.
According to the head of UX, in Colombia there are few known health centers that have implemented this type of initiatives. It is known that, in 2021, the International Hospital of Colombia – HIC, in Santander, approved a protocol for the safe admission of pets to the ICU, with the aim of accelerating the cardiovascular and mental recovery and rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19. .
At an international level, these types of programs are more common. In fact, the HUN took as a reference similar initiatives carried out in the United States and Spain, where it has been shown that the presence of companion animals in the hospital environment has important benefits for patients. According to an investigation by the Autonomous University of Madrid – UAMallowing pets into the hospital can provide emotional support, improved mood, and decreased feelings of loneliness and isolation in the patient.
“The animal gives you the warmth of home, familiarity, it reduces the level of stress, the level of pain, the level of anxiety that being in a hospital produces in you. I think that is one of the most important things that “Healing Footprints” leaves us with. I say that we expand visits to the entire family unit. Not only are my dad, my husband, my children, my brothers coming, now my dog or cat is also coming, which has already become another member of the family,” adds Corredor.
In order for pet visits to occur safely and fulfill their therapeutic objective without generating risk to the patient and the healthcare team, some guidelines must be taken into account. As the head of UX explains, the hospital has well-structured protocols in two ways. The first is the patient: he must not be an immunosuppressed patient, he must not have exposed wounds, he must not be isolated and he cannot have infections or allergies.
The second has to do with pets: they must have a veterinary certificate confirming good health, a vaccination card certifying hexavalent schedule and rabies, receive a bath in a period of no less than 45 days before the visit, have short nails and general grooming of the coat and limbs and on the day of the visit it should be brushed to remove excess loose hair.
In addition, the pet must be guided by a family member on a leash and must remain with it during its stay. Those that are considered special handling must wear a muzzle during their transit through the hospital. “The visits are between 30 and 45 minutes, taking into account that the dog also has its physiological needs. We do not have crossed schedules, that is, two dogs cannot be found at the same time, in the same place, in the same space,” adds Corredor.
“The invitation is to risk doing things differently, I believe that, for our patients, who are increasingly demanding and aware of their rights, we must implement humanization within the field of health. Many people are afraid of the infections, but when we have judicious and rigorous protocols, these things can be done,” concludes Corredor.
Pedro still remembers the 47 days he was hospitalized and the unconditional support that his dog Tomy gave him during much of that time. Today, eight months following that event, he goes for a walk in the park with the help of a cane and the company of his canine who never leaves him.
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