Pet Therapy

While our dedicated hospital staff treats medical conditions, these four-legged friends care for our patients' souls and warm their hearts. A dose of puppy love is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.

A visit from a friendly dog can be just the right medicine. Consider the milestone a young patient made after receiving a visit from a pet therapy dog at Northridge Hospital ... the patient spoke for the first time since his injury when a pet therapy dog visited him.

Pets can easily invoke feelings of comfort, joy and playfulness -  a natural connection between dogs and humans, especially children. Perhaps that’s why Paws That Refresh, Northridge Hospital’s pet therapy program is such a success. Accompanied bya trained owner-volunteer, a pet therapy dog visits most of the medical floors delivering unconditional love to the bedside of our patients.  

These dogs are no ordinary pets—the docile and affectionate animals have participated in special training before qualifying as a pet volunteer. All of them are certified therapy dogs insuring they are trained, good-natured and enjoy the attention.

Just call (818) 885-8500, ext. 5738 for a pet therapy visit. Take a look at "Molly to the Rescue" a short video that shows how our special volunteers care for our patients.