Dogs have healing powers that no one else could offer. Because of the sense of love and comfort they give, these doggos can help out people who are going through tough times. But for this two-year-old Rottweiler in Baltimore, she has been helping patients feel better as their very own dogtor!
Dogtor Loki is a therapy dog who works at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), together with her hooman, Caroline Benzel, who is also a second-year medical student. Her job is to go around the hospital and visit patients, especially those who have been staying there for a long time.
According to Caroline, Loki is a very emphatic dog. She is very gentle towards everyone and can really connect well with people. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, therapy dog visits weren’t allowed so Caroline and Loki had to stay home instead.
To continue comforting patients, Caroline had to think of another way. This is when she came up with the idea of doing virtual therapy dog visits. She would sit outside her mom’s yard together with Loki and they would FaceTime the patients and health workers at the UMMC.
Through this setup, they could continue their therapy dog visits. This also allows the patients to see a different environment other than the hospital. Thanks to their background, these patients could see the green grass from their yard and hear the birds chirping outside.
Because of their frequent FaceTime calls, Caroline noticed how the masks that the health workers were wearing were starting to damage their skin. This gave her the great idea to come up with care packages called Hero Healing Kits to help them ease this problem.
Each kit contains a hypoallergenic lotion and medicated powder to help with skin irritations, packs of gum to ease a dry mouth, and some Vaseline, chapstick, and also some packets of tea and coffee to keep them going.
Caroline was able to ask for help through Loki’s social media accounts and donations kept pouring in. Thanks to everybody’s help, they were able to make 1400 Hero Healing Kits. Caroline and Loki then delivered them to the UMMC as a sign of gratitude for their hard work and dedication during these times.
Video Credit: Good Morning America
