OUR LAGUNA: Pooches give a lift to the sick

Maxie and Muffin are two very special members of the South Coast Medical Center Auxiliary.

Maxie is a Shitzu. Muffin is Lhasa Apso. Both are card-carrying volunteers at the hospital, bringing “puppy love” to patients.

Muffin is the canine companion to Trudy Freer, an auxiliary volunteer in the sub-acute unit at the hospital. Their once-a-month visits to the unit are a highlight for patients.

Maxie was a present to Betty Cooper from her children while her husband, Clark, was hospitalized for Parkinson’s Disease.

It was not a present she asked for, but one that turned out to be a saving grace not only for her, but for others.

Maxie and Cooper were popular with staff and patients in the unit, where they regularly spent time with her husband. When he died, they stopped visiting.

“After a while I called her and said, ‘We miss you, but we also miss your dog,’” said Joy McCord, activities director of the unit.

In a recent edition of Healthy Pet, it was reported that animal-assisted therapy can have a positive effect on educational and physical well-being and mental health.

Pet therapy is provided at veteran’s hospitals such as Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., by a group called People Animals Love (PAL)

In one case cited in the magazine by PAL Executive Director Joseph Cavaretta, a wounded veteran was revived from a coma by the physical contact with a German shepherd named Hank and a Bernese mountain dog, named Cordyman.

The Delta Society’s mission is to improve human health through service and therapy animals. PAL and Delta Society are nonprofit organizations.

The current South Coast Medical Center Pet Therapy program was started several years ago by McCord, who joined the center staff in 1999. At the time, there was a now-defunct pet therapy program called “Arf.”

“I was very familiar with how important pet therapy is,” McCord said.

McCord took matters into her own hands. She called employees and patients and asked if any of them had small dogs that they would be willing to bring for visits.

Maxie and Muffin have stepped up to the plate, but McCord would like at least five dogs on a monthly rotation.

“Once-a-month visits don’t become a burden, and I make it for the same time every month so it becomes a habit,” McCord said.

The dogs must be licensed, current with all shots, clean and groomed.

Smaller dogs are preferred, because many of the sub-acute unit patients are not able to bend over from the wheel chairs or reach down from their beds.

“Touching is important,” McCord said. “We can put the small dogs on their patients’ laps or in their beds. The dogs squirm around and lick the patients’ hands. It makes the patients, who can, smile. And that is very rewarding.”

For more information about the program, call McCord at (949) 499-131, Ext. 3342.

SHOOT OUT

South Coast Medical Center will provide free flu shots from 9 a.m. to noon today, Friday, at the Veterans Memorial Community Center, 384 Legion St.

The shot clinic is open to all adults. No reservations needed.

Free hearing tests will be offered by Dr. Robert Pettis, the center’s new ear, nose and throat specialist, at the flu shot clinic.

The hospital also will provide shots from 8 a.m. to noon Dec. 1 in the Community Room, off of the Main Lobby of the center, 31872 S. Coast Hwy.

For more information, call hospital Community Relations Manager Kate Tschudin at (949) 499-7202.

HAMS ALSO SERVED

Volunteers from the Laguna Beach Emergency Communications Team were ready to go as soon they were asked to assist in fighting the Santiago Fire.

Local radio amateurs Mick Donoff, KG6CRC, and Lynn Taylor, WB6UUT, served at the command post in the Irvine Regional Park until Monday.

“We received the request for volunteers at 10 p.m., Oct. 30, and we had our first two volunteers within an hour,” said Taylor, acting radio officer for the local group. “We had five volunteers, but we only needed two.

“We were hoping not to be called to serve in Laguna, but we were ready and it was good to be able to help out.”

The Orange County Sheriff department’s Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) requested the local assistance.

A government agency must activate the HAMS for service. In Laguna, that agency would be the police department, even if the emergency is a fire.

“Almost all cities in Orange County as well as the county have RACES units,” Taylor said. “It is pronounced ‘racees.’”

RACES are also first responders under the Department of Homeland Security.

Laguna Beach Emergency Communications Team usually meets on the second Monday of the month and has weekly drills from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday evenings on amateur radio frequency 145.51. Each member has an identifying call number — those letters and numbers following Donoff and Taylor’s names.

The members also listen to Family Radio Service, FRS, Channel 5, privacy code 1, which is unlicensed and can be used for short distances by the public to contact the team, which can then relay the information.

“We are working primarily with Neighborhood Watch on this,” Taylor said.

For more information, visit www.LagunaBeachRACES.org or call Taylor at (949) 497-2671.

OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 22 in the Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.