Sunday, April 18, 2010 - North Shore News - A27
Volunteer
WEEK
APRIL 18th to APRIL 24th
A special feature of the
News photo Mike Wakefield
Volunteers Enrich our Community Thank You Volunteers! Community Volunteer Leadership in Action Behind every program, facility or working group, is a volunteer helping to shape the direction of the community and willing to serving others. This selfless investment makes West Vancouver a wonderful, caring and creative place to live. Thank you for your commitment, leadership and loyalty! West Vancouver 2010 Team, West Vancouver Special Events, Harmony Arts Festival, Kay Meek Performing Arts Centre, West Vancouver Museum, Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver Memorial Library, West Vancouver Community Centre, Seniors’ Activity Centre, West Vancouver Arena, Gleneagles Community Centre, Ambleside Youth Centre
westvancouver.ca
Emma: top dog in volunteering Benjamin Alldritt balldritt@nsnews.com
EMMA never says a word, but she still helps kids learn to read, stirs long-dormant memories for seniors, and even helps teenagers overcome eating disorders. Emma, a seven-year-old black Labrador retriever, has been a St. John Ambulance therapy dog for four years alongside owner Mary Brown. “I saw something about it on TV and I said ‘That’s what I want to get into with my dog,’” said Brown. “It seemed like an opportunity for me to volunteer with my dog, which would be the best job in the world. So I went to the first introductory meeting, it seemed to fit and I pursued it.” Brown, a North Vancouver special education teacher, first started bringing Emma into extended care facilities like Vancouver General Hospital’s Banfield Pavilion to meet with seniors. “I find with the older people, Emma is a starting place for conversation. She’s tactile for them, she tweaks their memory. They might remember they had a dog and his name was Lucky. They may not remember what happened two hours ago but it’s really funny how she triggers those old memories. We visited one lady at Banfield for quite a while and as we visited her she became nonverbal. But when she patted Emma, her first language — German — would come out. She would murmur away to Emma in German but otherwise she was non-verbal.” Emma was also called in to visit a woman in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. “Sure enough, she went into the room and for the first time in six months that woman smiled. Her family were just over the moon. And later when she passed away, the family sent Emma a thank-you card,” said Brown. Brown has also taken her companion into North Vancouver schools to help kids, improbably, with their reading. “We go into elementary schools and the West Van library and kids who are reluctant readers or struggling readers read their books to Emma,” said Brown. “It sounds kind of wacky but when you read to a dog or sit with a dog, studies have shown it brings your blood pressure down, it brings your heart rate down, your endorphins go up, serotonin levels in the brain rises. So these kids are in the right place to start reading. And besides, Emma is non-judgmental. She just sits there with her big brown eyes and says ‘You’re the best reader I’ve ever heard.’” Brown, who sneaks a little teaching into the sessions, said over the span of a term students working with Emma read more fluently and expressively. “I see huge progress. It’s really amazing,” she said. Brown said Emma shows an uncanny knack for adapting to the needs of the people she visits. She’s calm and still with seniors, energetic and upbeat with teenagers. “We’ve been asked to work with an autistic boy at one of the North Van schools because he is terrified of dogs. We’re doing gradual habituation. So first of all he looked at Emma through the doorway and he didn’t flip out, which is good. When he’s out in the community and he sees a dog he has quite an over-the-top reaction even when it’s across the street. But Emma became very quiet and wouldn’t even look at him, which is interesting because she usually beams right at a person. Once again, she just knew what to do,” See Training page 29