At Sheba Rehab, a Man’s Best Friend is His Salvation

Watch as Gidi, a trained physio-therapy dog helps Johnny through his paces.

A pilot program at Sheba's rehabilitation hospital that uses specially trained dogs to assist physically impaired patients improve their movements is showing great promise. During the past month, the Tzlil Meitar organization has sent several dogs to Sheba's rehabilitation facility to work with patients. "These specially trained dogs spend about 45 minutes with patients, working on their mobility. The dogs come several times a week and work as much as 7-8 hours a day with patients who request their assistance. We have seen dramatic improvement in patients from a physical and emotional perspective," revealed Prof. Israel Dudkiewicz, who heads Sheba's orthopedic rehabilitation program.

Johnny, a severely impaired patient (seen in the video) raved about Gidi, "Because of my impairment, I feel pain but it's a 'phantom' pain, because when I'm with Gidi, I'm able to perform my physio-therapy and my pain disappears. I know it's psychological, but Gidi calms me," he said fondly. The bond between Gidi and Johnny is such that when Johnny rested for a few minutes on a nearby bed, Gidi jumped up to be by his side.

Prof. Dudkiewicz endeavors to expand the pilot program into a permanent rehab regimen at Sheba with the hospital having physio-therapy dogs "on staff". The dogs are tested and trained for rehab duty at a very young age, working with patients at least three times a week until they are "retired" at age 10. The costs for training, feeding, maintaining and housing (in most cases they will live with a Sheba physio-therapist) the dog during the course of his/her work span is $50,000. If you are interested in sponsoring our physio-therapy dog, contact Yoel Har-Even at:  Yoel.Hareven@sheba.health.gov.il