When Jaume Fatjó was nine years old, a dog came into his life. Then came many more, which he also loved madly, but the first dog marked him forever. Baloo was a German shepherd who might seem fierce to strangers, but to his own he was a cuddly toy. He accompanied Jaume from the age of 9 to 22, during his childhood and early youth, until he almost finished his degree in Medicine.
Today, Dr. Jaume Fatjó is 54 years old and heads the Affinity Animals and Health Foundation chair in the Psychiatry department of the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. This academic area has teamed up with the intensive care medicine service of the Hospital del Mar to help with the recovery of ICU patients and improve their stay with two very special doctors.
The advantages of these therapies are unquestionable. Another chair, that of Animals and Society at the Rey Juan Carlos University, in collaboration with the 12 de Octubre hospital, has developed a canine assistance program for adolescents with mental health problems admitted to this Madrid hospital. But until now these dogs had not entered an adult hospital, as will now happen at the Hospital del Mar.
Vida, a three-year-old Pyrenean shepherd female, and Lu, a seven-year-old greyhound, started working there at the end of October. They go there two days a week and make visits of around 20 minutes per patient, under the guidance of professionals, such as Maribel Vila, from the Affinity Foundation. "The first impressions are extraordinary", say doctors Joan Ramon Masclans and Irene Dot, head and deputy of the intensive care medicine service at the Hospital del Mar.
This health and university center has gone to great lengths to make the facilities even friendlier and more accessible. Specially trained dogs with all the health and veterinary checks are of great help even in areas as special as the Uci. It is another step to humanize this service, which already uses music therapy, virtual reality and the possibility for family members to participate in care.
Of course, not all patients are candidates to receive visits from Life and Lu. They must be people who like animals, and also their state must allow them to interact with them. Dr. Fatjó, one of the promoters of the project, witnessed a very appropriate case: "An old lady was moved when she saw them, because she has two dogs and she loved petting them. "For a moment I felt at home," he told us.
This is the goal, add Dr. Masclans and Dr. Dot: "Reduce anxiety and improve the emotional state of patients without drugs." However, the Hospital del Mar will not limit itself to empirically verifying the benefits of animal-assisted therapies. He will also star in an ambitious scientific study to confirm with objective data the benefits of interacting with animals.
Those who participate in the project will answer a questionnaire to assess their condition before and after the visits. Saliva samples will also be taken to see how the hormonal levels of indicators such as cortisol or melatonin increase or decrease, real thermometers of our anxiety or well-being. The initiative initially lasts for a year, but it looks like it will last.
Those responsible for the measure are so convinced that the results will live up to expectations that they hope it will continue, if the help of the Affinity Foundation itself and the Friends of the Mar Hospital Foundation is maintained. Another positive aspect is the response of the healthcare staff.
The arrival of Vida and Lu not only changes the expression of patients, but also that of nurses and doctors. 45 years ago, a wolf-faced dog became something of a big brother to a boy, who gained confidence and security from a gladiator-looking sheep. This child today claims the work of Vida and Lu, with an appearance that can no longer deceive absolutely anyone.
