Paws & Play Doggie Digest 2021 #2

The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department

Issue 2 2021

Celebrating Four Years of Paws & Play The month of March is Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Month! Throughout the month the department celebrated with an Instagram takeover of the main Mount Sinai Instagram, a staff lunch, and medical art make a scene challenge for all units and clinics that have child life staff. In the PICU, the staff made a scene of 101 Dalmatians and even included our very own Professor as a guest appearance in the scene. On the last day of the month, Paws & Play celebrated the program’s 4th birthday with a puppy parade to all the units. It was a perfect end to Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy month!

Celebrations were also in order on March 31st to recognize the beginning of the Paws & Play program at Mount Sinai! To acknowledge this anniversary, the Paws & Play team held a puppy parade through the halls of Kravis Children’s Hospital with Amos, Professor and Moby sporting special bandanas! Staff were given anniversary themed hand sanitizers and patients celebrated with delicious cookies and special doggie stickers. Patients in the Child Life Zone had dog themed crafts to decorate including wooden dog bones and bandanas. The celebration concluded with an anniversary themed “Dog Talk” show on KidZone TV, in which hosts Ali and Professor played Paws & Play-themed Pictionary! We’re looking forward to more years of snuggles, love and memories with our favorite pups!

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LB 2019

Welcoming Christina to Paws & Play On April 14th, Christina Auriemma became a certified secondary handler for Professor through Canine Assistants. Christina is one of our Creative Arts Therapy Coordinators and provides art therapy sessions for patients and families in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. She is looking forward to working with Professor in the outpatient Hematology/Oncology clinic through providing both Animal Assisted Therapy and art therapy interventions for patients with goals of pain management, creative expression, comfort and coping during treatment.

Christina's love for dogs truly began when she first started working within the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department in 2019 and met facility dogs Professor, Amos and Moby. During the height of the pandemic, Christina added a puppy companion of her own to her family and brought home an Aussiedoodle named Wilbur. We look forward to updating you on what Christina and Professor's work looks like together and the collaboration between AAT and art therapy!

Happy Gotcha Day Moby and Professor!

On March 20th we celebrated Professor’s “gotcha day”.

Four years ago on this day Professor’s handlers met Professor at Canine Assistants in Atlanta, Georgia. On March 18th we also celebrated Moby’s “gotcha day” two years ago on this day Moby’s handers met Moby at Canine Assistants! We are thankful today and every day for the warmth and love that Professor and Moby continue to bring to patients, families, and staff at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital and Mount Sinai Health System. We would also like to thank PetSmart Charities for their support of Professor and his team over the past four years. Thank you to Gertrude Feil Charitable Trust. The RLichter Charity for Dogs, and EnCourage Kids Foundation for your support of Moby.

Paws & Play Virtual Intensive The Paws & Play team held our first Facility Dog Virtual Intensive on April 6th. This half-day virtual workshop provided current and future facility dog programs around the country an in-depth work at our program, highlighting facility dog program best practice. Participants had the opportunity to learn about topics including starting and expanding a facility dog program, clinical interventions and the benefits of bond-based training. Our team is incredibly proud of the work our facility dog dyads do every day, and it was an honor to share this with facility dog colleagues. We look forward to future intensives with a variety of participants and topics. We are excited to host our second intensive this summer.

We are grateful to our partners!

Paws & Play is generously supported by PetSmart Charities® and the Mount Sinai Auxiliary Board. Paws & Play: Care for Clinical Teams is generously supported by the Gertrude Feil Charitable Trust. The RLichter Charity for Dogs, and EnCourage Kids Foundation