Animals and People Helping One Another

Dear American Hospital Association,

Please consider the implementation of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) in association with current health care treatment options. AAT and AAA treatments have proven to be successful in many cases across the country.

Benefits of AAT and AAA include decreased anxiety, loneliness and depression, mental stimulation, and a sense of safety and protection. Animals offer companionship during lonely or stressful times, like visits to the hospital.

Children have the potential to be enormous beneficiaries of AAT or AAA, as animals make children feel more at ease and therefore more willing to accept treatment. Animal Assisted Therapy can be especially beneficial to children who have witnessed or suffered abuse directly.

One researcher found that AAT benefited the overall therapeutic process not only by reducing anxiety, but also by helping the child disclose abuse and express feelings, and by promoting projection and identification of feelings.

Doctors, nurses and other hospital workers have the misfortune of seeing patients on the worst days of their lives. Consider adding a program that could bring joy in the face of hardship and despair.

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Please team up with local animal shelters, and implement the use of AAT and AAA in hospitals across the nation. These programs benefit both lonely patients and loving animals.