Our Pet Therapy Project Gets Under Way at Felice Lotti Hospital in Pontedera 🐾❤️

26 February 2025 was a special day for Felice Lotti Hospital in Pontedera: the first session of our “Zampe in Corsia” (Paws on the Ward) project. The star of the day was Artù, a wonderful 9-year-old Golden Retriever who brought warmth and calm to the young patients on the Paediatrics ward.

The project is a partnership between Associazione Amici Animali a 4 Zampe and the hospital, and its aim is to improve patients’ physical and emotional wellbeing through Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI).

Animal-Assisted Interventions: benefits and goals 🏥🐶

AAI are known to bring many benefits to patients, their families and healthcare staff. Spending time with an animal can:

✔ Reduce stress and anxiety and lift patients’ mood
✔ Ease the perception of pain thanks to the release of endorphins
✔ Encourage social contact between patients, staff and families
✔ Stimulate memory and attention, especially in children
✔ Encourage movement and physical rehabilitation
✔ Make the hospital stay better, for the medical staff too

The project will focus mainly on the Paediatrics ward, where animals have already been shown to reduce stress and pain in children and make traditional treatments more effective.

How will the AAA sessions work? 📅

The programme includes:

📌 A preparatory meeting with doctors and nurses to look at the spaces and agree on how the sessions will run
📌 Weekly one-hour sessions, from February to December 2025 (except July and August)
📌 Targeted activities to support the physical and emotional wellbeing of the young patients

Our four-legged heroes and the professional team 🐕💙

Bringing comfort and company will be our very special “four-legged therapists”:

🐾 Artù, Golden Retriever, 9 years old
🐾 Luna, Dachshund, 18 months old
🐾 Penny, Golden Retriever, 5 years old (in training)
🐾 Holly, Golden Retriever, 10 months old (in training)

They’ll be accompanied by a team of pet therapy professionals:

👩‍⚕ Animal handlers: Francesca Panconi and Stella Tommei
👩‍⚕ Veterinarian specialised in AAI: Aleida Paladini
👩‍⚕ Activity coordinators: Rossella Prosperi, Marta Galiberti and Romina Macchia

Measuring the benefits: how the sessions are evaluated

To make sure the project really works, we’ll use specific evaluation tools:

📌 Notes in the handler’s logbook
📌 Pain monitoring before and after each session
📌 Evaluation questionnaires for parents and healthcare staff

A project that changes lives

“Zampe in Corsia” is more than a therapeutic activity: it’s a journey that brings hope, joy and relief to young patients, their families and the whole hospital team.

Thanks to Associazione Amici Animali a 4 Zampe, our volunteers and our wonderful dogs, we can make the hospital a calmer, more welcoming place. 🐾💙

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