One simple question can brighten a person's day and might even have a healing effect.
"Would you like a visit from a therapy dog?" is the question Doug Coulter asked in 1999 while visiting hospital patients with his therapy dog, Waldo. Waldo had his own health problems, including labored, loud breathing.
The woman said yes. Within minutes, she was petting, kissing and hugging Waldo.
"He was just eating it up," said Coulter. "Then a nurse came in and said, 'Oh my God!' and ran down the hall. I thought that we shouldn't have been in the room. I heard people running down the hall, and then, in came about eight people. One was the patient's doctor, who said, 'I want to know what you did.'"
Coulter explained his visit, and the doctor told him, 'This lady has been in a three-month coma, and we tried everything to get her out of it.'"
Coulter believes the sound of Waldo's breathing stirred something in that woman.
"I've had stroke victims reach out and pet the dog," said Coulter. "People are just blown away."
Comments