BIDDEFORD, Maine — Severe staffing shortages. A two-year pandemic. Incurable sickness. Frustrated families. Hospital staff has faced a lot of challenges in their daily shifts, which sparked a new program at Southern Maine Health Care's Biddeford campus. It's a bit of therapy, but not for patients — it's for team members either leaving an overnight shift or just heading into work.
Ollie, a greyhound, is the newest member of the care team at SMHC. He and his handler, Phil Johnson, have been stopping by the hospital every Tuesday morning during a shift change. While they can't roam the hallways of the hospital just yet, they stand near the employee entrance and greet staff members as they come in for work or leave for the day.
"I think people naturally relax when they are petting a dog," Rick Hebb said as he stopped to pet Ollie on his way out of the hospital.
Johnson is a retired pastor, and Ollie is his third therapy greyhound. As people stopped to pet Ollie, Johnson talked with them about his dog, about their shifts, about anything they wanted to talk about.
"Many people say, 'Oh, we’re really glad you’re here, we appreciate it,' because it’s stressful working in a hospital, especially with COVID," Johnson said.
"It's always nice to see him in the morning when you have a long night," Robin Berrigan said to Johnson as she stopped to pet Ollie.
Berrigan is a certified nurses aide in the intensive care unit. After six weeks of Ollie's visits, she's gotten used to the Tuesday morning stop.
But Ollie's visits are still fairly new. His therapy work is part of a program called Paws for the Soul, run by Shelly Snow, the director of Spiritual and Pastoral Care for SMHC.
"One of the things we're working really hard at Southern Maine Health Care is recognizing what our care team has lived through the last two years," Snow said.
While petting a dog seems like just a small act of that recognition, it's only a piece of what Snow and now Phil Johnson and Ollie are hoping to bring to the hospital.
"Having the chance to validate those feelings that what we’re doing is important, and what we’re doing is good," Snow said. "It helps us in the future cope."
Snow recognized that many staff members walk into work with a feeling of the unknown, that what they're walking into will be different from day-to-day, minute-to-minute. Ollie and Johnson being a constant, even if it is just one morning a week, can make a small difference.
As COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease, Ollie will be visiting staff in the hallway or stopping in break rooms.
"It does give you a good feeling when you go to work," Jill LeBlond, who works in SMHC's maternity ward, said. "Kind of takes your mind off of everything." Even if just for that moment.
