Pets Provide Occupational Therapy

We all know that seeing and playing with our pets always puts us in a good mood, but what about our health? The patients at Tewksbury State Hospital are proof that they have a positive effect..

Each week, the patients are visited by therapy dogs, which go from room to room playing, licking, and keeping them company.  Beginning in June 2009, Nancy Marshall, the therapy recreation coordinator for the hospital, started the pet-therapy program after reading how these visits could help patients. 

And it’s working; Even those bound to a wheel chair seem more eager to get up or move around by playing and walking the pets. This acts as an occupational therapy and the patients don’t even realize it. Read the full story here.