Oklahoma City VA Health Care System Welcomes New Facility Dog
Oklahoma City VA Health Care System has a new four-legged member of their Recreational Therapy Team, Val a two-year-old Labrador Retriever from the Canine Companions®.
Canine Companions® is a Non-profit that provides service dogs to adults, children and veterans with disabilities and facility dogs to professionals working in healthcare, criminal justice, and educational settings. They provide expertly-trained service and facility dogs free of charge to the recipients.
“Val is our new facility dog who comes to work with me every day,” Kacie Ingram, Recreation Therapist said. “She helps Veterans meet their rehabilitation goals.”
Val works in Acute Care Rehabilitation as well as Outpatient Recreation Therapy.
“Val starts her day at the Outpatient Recreation Therapy Clinic at the 14th Street Clinic where she brightens the day of many Veterans,” Ingram said. “And then onto the Main Medical center to work in Acute Care Rehabilitation.”
“Val works individually with our rehabilitation patients,” Ingram said. “Depending on which Veteran she is working her assistance is different. Rehabilitating stroke patients, we practice fine motor skills by having the Veterans practice brushing her. Also, Veterans work on memory and pronunciation by memorizing commands and then giving those commands to Val for her to follow.”
Val joined Raisin, an eight-year-old Labrador Retriever who has been at the OKC VA Medical Center for six and half years.
Facility dogs differ from service dogs in that facility dogs are not assigned to one person to aid. They are assigned to a handler working at a facility where they assist professionals like our Recreation Therapists here at the VA who are helping many Veterans.
“Val has been here for a month and seen close to a hundred Veterans,” Ingram said.
Anyone is welcome to greet Val or Raisin if they see them in the halls, the Recreation Therapy team members would ask for Veterans to ask to pet Val or Raisin in case they are working with other Veterans or patients. But be warned, Val tends to slide down and expose her belly to anyone who pets her, so expect to be delayed with required belly rubs.