The pediatric emergency room of the San Michele dell'Arnas Brotzu hospital in Cagliari, directed by Gabriella Cherchi, hosted the dog Sam for the first of a series of animal-assisted interventions, thanks to the availability of the social promotion association "Profumodi Nardo".
With the support of expert educators, together with their dogs followed by veterinarians who take care of their health and behavioral aspects, a therapeutic practice has been started which promotes the improvement of the quality of life, psycho-physical well-being and correct human-animal interaction.
The session, authorized by the parents, lasted about 45 minutes and involved 8 young patients, with low priority codes (green), two educators and the dog Sam.
The children's reactions were all positive, starting with the reduction of fear: the infants stopped crying immediately, while the older ones started smiling and talking while interacting with their new four-legged friend.
The result was that the entire emergency room benefited from the playful atmosphere created by the patients' interaction with Sam.
This method allows the child and his family to maintain a connection with normality: the animal has a distracting function and focuses the children's attention on itself, stimulating positive and relaxing feelings.
Numerous scientific evidences demonstrate how the presence of an animal has a positive influence during situations perceived as stressful (for example, having to carry out a pediatric emergency visit) as contact with them reduces anxiety levels.
Not only that, contact with animals also contributes to strengthening the patient's ability to stay in the present, helps him to open up to the outside, recovering or discovering his own instinctiveness, developing sharing and respect for the needs of others, helping him to overcome traumas and fears and improving self-knowledge.
The use of animals as an aid to normal medical therapies can be traced back to ancient times;
but it was only in the second half of the last century that the American child psychiatrist, Boris M. Levinson, used the term Pet-Therapy, today replaced in Italy by: "animal-assisted interventions".
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