PAWH Volunteer Program
Want to brighten the days of Children's patients, along with your pet? Become a PAWH (Pets Assisting With Healing) volunteer! Pets in the PAWH program help patients with development and rehabilitation and brighten their stay in the hospital.
Requirements
| 1. | Must be Pet Partners certified (formerly known as Delta Society) www.petpartners.org |
| 2. | PAWH volunteers are expected to follow Pet Partner guidelines and policies when volunteering at Children’s. Obedience training is highly recommended. For a list of local agencies that offer obedience training, visit www.mntherapyanimals.com |
| 3. | Complete Children’s Volunteer Application |
| 4. | Personal Interview - Sit down one-on-one with a Children’s volunteer coordinator. |
| 5. | General Volunteer Orientation - All volunteers must attend a mandatory 2.5-hour orientation, typically offered one to two times per month at Children’s Minneapolis and Children’s St. Paul campuses. |
| 6. | Program-specific training with an experienced volunteer - This is a 2-part training: 1) New volunteer shadows experienced volunteer and their pet 2) New volunteer and their pet work under supervision of experienced volunteer. |
PAWH Programs
| Child Life | ||
| 1. | Handlers and their pets are invited to visit patients and their families throughout the hospital. Main areas that receive pet visits are medical-surgical inpatient floors, surgery areas, selected waiting rooms, and specialty units. | |
| 2. | Volunteer shifts are 2 hours weekly (depending on need and dog’s stamina) | |
| 3. | Pet visits are needed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. | |
| 4. | Campuses: St. Paul and Minneapolis | |
| Development and Rehabilitation (Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy/Speech Therapy) | ||
| 1. | Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapists request dogs to participate in a children’s therapy sessions. Dogs are used for motivation, sensory stimulation, balance, range of motion, etc. | |
| 2. | Volunteer shifts are variable. Most of the time, appointments are one hour per week on an ongoing basis; other appointments are one-time requests. Volunteers can opt to take on multiple requests (two per week, two per day, etc.) | |
| 3. | Rehab requests are Monday through Friday during business hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) | |
| 4. | Campuses: St. Paul, Minneapolis, Roseville, Woodbury, Maple Grove and Minnetonka | |
Commitment
We ask our PAWH volunteers to stay with us for one year.
