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Care Worker's Pet Project Puts Patients At Ease

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By RONNIE BLAIR rblair@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 14, 2009

HUDSON - A veterinarian gave Shannon Fiehler a bit of advice after she adopted a 4-month-old shelter dog that was part border collie and part Labrador retriever.
Cassie is a working dog, the vet said. Find a job for her.

Fiehler, an exercise physiologist, knew just the thing for the black-and-white pooch with the broken tail and sweet disposition.

Fiehler decided to have Cassie trained to be a therapy dog, a helpful canine whose very presence could lower the anxiety level for patients in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.

Soon, Fiehler's work assisting patients at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point became Cassie's vocation as well.

"Whenever I'm here, she comes with me," Fiehler said.

These days, after more extensive training, Cassie has graduated into a full-fledged service dog, marching around proudly in a red vest that bears her certification.

If a patient is in distress, Cassie senses it long before the human health care workers do. She goes up to the patient and stays there, unwilling to walk away, a signal to Fiehler and others to give that patient some attention.
Cassie responds well to hand signals, quickly doing Fiehler's bidding. She will sit, lie down or close a cabinet door on command.

These days, Cassie is learning a new trick - and it is an important one. She is being trained to sense when patients have low blood sugar. This bit of doggie detection is possible because the body gives off a different scent when the blood sugar is low, Fiehler said.

Mostly, though, Cassie provides a soothing presence that helps patients with the depression or the anxiety they feel as they undergo rehabilitative therapy.

"They take to her and they love her," Fiehler said.

Patients look forward to seeing Cassie, Fiehler admits, more than they look forward to seeing her.

"It's not, 'Where's Shannon?'" she said. "It's, 'Where's Cassie?'"

Fiehler can walk the halls of the hospital alone and she might as well be anonymous. If she walks with Cassie, though, people stop. They want to chat. Cassie is a social magnet.

That positive reaction is one of the reasons dogs work well in a rehabilitative setting. Time with Cassie can soothe stress and literally lower blood pressure.

"She's just great," said Peggy-Ann Krobatsch, a cardiac rehab patient. "If somebody's the slightest bit uptight, all they have to do is give her love and she gives love right back."

Krobatsch, 62, who had open-heart surgery about two years ago and has other cardiac and breathing problems, started rehabilitation sessions at the medical center about four months ago.

When she signed up, someone told her there was a dog. That was a warning, Krobatsch said, for anyone who might not like dogs.

She likes dogs fine, and has a 13-year-old mutt named Mugsy, a rescue dog who had been abused.

When Krobatsch discovered that Cassie responds to hand signals, she learned the signals so she could interact with the dog during her thrice-weekly rehab sessions.

"I love to do the hand signals," Krobatsch said. "I want to do that with my dog."
Cassie will often greet people, especially new people, with a growl or a bark. Fiehler said there's no need for alarm. That's just Cassie's way of saying hello.

"She is a talker," Fiehler said.

When Cassie needs a potty break, she doesn't wait by the door as dogs often do. She is on the second floor of a medical office building and knows the door goes to a hallway, so it doesn't signify outdoors to her.

She can see the outdoors from the windows, though, so she stands by a window to convey the urgency of the moment.

Sometimes, when the place is packed with patients, Fiehler is too busy to notice.

The patients notice, though, and they alert her.

"Shannon," they shout, "your dog needs to go outside."

It's the perfect opportunity for the patients to watch out for the dog who watches out for them.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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