Puppies and patients will benefit from a unique new community partnership launched today between The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital and Smart Pups Assistance Dogs.
The young dogs will regularly be visiting wards and departments of the hospital in Buderim as part of their training to better help children with special needs.
Smart Pups Assistance Dogs, based at Pomona on the Sunshine Coast, specialise in providing trained service dogs to assist children with conditions such as autism and seizure-related syndromes, including epilepsy.
Wallis Westbrook, General Manager of The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital, said he was proud to partner with another local not-for-profit community organisation that is focused on helping to improve the health and wellbeing of the community.
“We are excited to welcome the puppies and their trainers to our hospital and look forward to children across Australia being the beneficiaries of their visits,” he said.
Almost all the children that Smart Pups helps are required to have regular hospital visits. For some, it is frequent and ongoing. An essential part of the training of each dog is therefore in a clinical environment so that they are prepared for the smell, sound and feel of a hospital.
The puppies are safe and the trainers experienced to ensure there is no disruption to the hospital’s everyday activities.
“I am hopeful that during their training here at the hospital, the puppies will bring a smile to the face of our staff and patients,” Mr Westbrook said.
“It truly is a wonderful opportunity to play a role in helping children gain increased independence, as well as providing much needed help to their families – this aligns perfectly with our hospital value of understanding and empathy for others by offering holistic care, hope and inspiration.”
Patricia McAlister, Director and Founder of Smart Pups, said that she was excited to be partnering with the hospital to provide very important “on-the-job training” for the puppies.
“We could not be happier that the hospital has recognised the importance of our service and has thrown open their
doors to ensure that children with special needs from all over Australia have access to these specially-trained dogs,” she said.
Smart Pups has been operating for four years and in that time has placed a total of 34 dogs with families across Australia. These dogs have reduced stress levels in children and increased their daily successes in many varied ways.
Often the effect of a Smart Pup is profound on the lives of the recipient family and the positive changes continue as the relationship between child and dog strengthen with time.
The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital is part of UnitingCare Health (UCH), a not-for-profit private healthcare provider as part of UnitingCare Queensland, the health and community services organisation for the Uniting Church in Queensland.
UCH is the only not-for-profit provider of private hospital services on the Sunshine Coast.