It was a silent, slow Friday afternoon in the lobby at Intermountain Health’s Heber Valley Hospital, aside from the occasional cooing from patients and employees alike as they came in contact with Pippi, a 6-year-old, gingerbread-colored goldendoodle hired as the hospital’s first therapy dog.  Her handler, Kirsten Nilsson, usually breaks the ice with patients by asking them if they have any dogs.  “I’m very careful not to ever be like, ‘So, what’s wrong?’ I just sort of ignore that they’re in the hospital. We talk about the weather, and whatever they want to do,” she said. “I’ll bring Pippi, and she’ll sit on the bed, and I’ll just stay as long as it feels like they need someone to talk to. Sometimes they’re lonely.” As volunteers, Nilsson and Pippi have visited Intermountain Health’s Park City Hospital every Wednesday for the past four years. The pair started visiting the Heber Valley Hospital earlier this month and plans to continue doing so on the first Tuesday of each month. Usually, the pair wanders in the lobby and visits the medical-surgical wing and emergency clinic to see if any patients might be interested in a visit from Pippi, usually by checking with the receptionist. Heber Valley Hospital employee Joseph Wight greets Pippi the therapy dog, who also spends time at Park City Hospital. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record “Sometimes, Pippi will identify someone and start walking towards them, which I’ve learned to not ever ignore, because a lot of times, dogs can sense there’s something wrong or that they need somebody,” Nilsson said. “If Pippi picks someone out, then they’re always like, ‘This is just what I needed.’ It’s really rewarding.” Nilsson often gives patients a card with Pippi’s “stats,” like her birthday and favorite sport: swimming with the ducks in the lake near Nilsson’s house. Pippi learned everything she knows through the Salt Lake City organization, Intermountain Therapy Animals. Her certification test involved placing Pippi in a fake hospital environment, complete with crutches, a gurney and pills scattered on the floor that could potentially distract her. The goal was for her to jump onto a hospital bed and let a patient pet her.  Pippi the therapy dog and her handler, Kirsten Nilsson, greet patients as they walk down a hallway at Heber Valley Hospital. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record “She wanted to spend most of her time with the people who were just pretending to hang out at the hospital and didn’t really want to hang out with me,” Nilsson said. “She was overly friendly with everybody else, which is great.” Nilsson, the children’s librarian for the Summit County Library, first adopted Pippi to certify her as a Reading Education Assistance Dog through Intermountain Therapy Animals. Those dogs attentively listen to kids read aloud to help them develop their fluency.  Pippi was born just five months before the COVID-19 lockdown, so she wasn’t a fan of kids when she first met them in the wild. But now, she’s perfectly attentive as they read to her. If she ever gets overwhelmed, she’ll go to her “safe space,” the top of Nilsson’s storytime book cart, where the children’s little hands are mercifully out of reach.  Pippi also visits the Salt Lake City International Airport about once a month to meet anxious flyers or people with delayed flights. That’s the most stimulating environment Pippi has been in.  The pup is much more at home at the Heber Valley Hospital, which is generally even quieter than the Park City Hospital. Pippi can handle visits of about an hour. When she’s feeling done, she lies on the floor, four legs splayed out like a taxidermy rug. Sometimes, though, that just means she’s enjoying the cool feeling of the tile floor against her fur. Six-year-old goldendoodle Pippi takes a break on the cold floor at the Heber Valley Hospital. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Nilsson said three teams of Intermountain Therapy Animals handlers and therapy dogs visit the Park City Hospital. She hopes to convince some of them to volunteer at the Heber Valley Hospital, too, especially since a few live in Heber City. She also encouraged anyone who may be interested to train a therapy dog. She said her experience with Pippi has made her more considerate of other people, more comfortable starting up conversations and a more inclusive individual. “(Pippi) doesn’t care what you look like or how you’re dressed or what kind of piercings you have or tattoos,” Nilsson said. “The fun thing is everyone reacts to her the same way.” Pippi clearly has a positive effect on the patients, too, as evidenced by a time someone spotted Pippi in the Park City Hospital cafeteria and asked Nilsson to visit his mom in the intensive care unit. “His mom was in pretty bad shape and not really responsive, and looked uncomfortable. And we walked in, and she saw the dog, and everything changed. She just became much more relaxed,” Nilsson said. “Pippi put her head on top of the woman’s hand, and then, with her other hand, she could pet her on the head. It was amazing. Everyone in the room started crying. And she stayed there for minutes, like she knew, ‘This is something that I’m here for.’” The post Meet Pippi, Heber Valley Hospital’s first goldendoodle therapist appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less