Pet Therapy dogs make great hospice volunteers!

Moments With Baxter, the "Hospice Angel"

Excerpts from an article by Angela Morrow RN, and Melissa Joseph, owner of Baxter, 
the Pet Therapy Dog.

Pet Therapy dogs are special. Any dog who can bring comfort and a smile to sick patients is a special dog indeed. Then there are those dogs who surpass all human expectations -- dogs who seem wiser and more compassionate than their human counterparts, dogs seemingly sent from heaven to do work no human can. This is the story of Baxter.


Baxter was a rescue dog turned hospice hero. Part Golden Retriever, part Chow-Chow, Baxter was all love. Melissa Joseph welcomed him into her home and her heart when he was about two years old and spent nearly every moment since with him at her side. It was only natural for Melissa to bring Baxter along to volunteer training when she and her husband decided to be hospice volunteers. The hospice staff and group of fellow hospice volunteers all agreed that Baxter was special and awarded him the honorary title of hospice volunteer, even presenting him with a certificate of completion of volunteer training and his own name badge.

At the urging of the hospice staff, Melissa sought out certification for Baxter to be an Animal Assisted Therapy dog. Baxter passed the rigorous testing with flying colors and at the ripe age of 12 years old, became a certified pet therapy dog. He spent the next seven years volunteering at the San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine in the inpatient hospice unit and touched every life he encountered. Melissa has written a book to honor Baxter, who passed away October 16, 2009, to raise awareness of pet therapy volunteers, and to raise proceeds to benefit charity. Moments With Baxter tells 36 stories of special moments spent with Baxter - 36 patients and countless staff, family members, and loved ones touched by the special spirit of an amazing dog. Baxter comforted children who were leaving this world all to soon and reinvigorated youth in the dying elderly. He brought comfort and joy to dying patients of all ages and eased the grief of their loved ones, if even for a moment.

Baxter has become something of a celebrity but no one understands the depth of his spirit better than those who spent precious moments with Baxter. 

                                                                  

For more photos of Baxter visiting hospice patients watch the following clip which was produced as a memorial to this beautiful dog who served the dying so faithfully.
                                                                   

At Medi Hospice we would welcome a wonderful pet therapy dog among our volunteers.  If you have a pet that would become a gift to the dying, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator

Judith Dugan
(434)244-0890
 1201 Stoney Ridge Road 
 Charlottesville VA 22902