At Galen College of Nursing in Louisville, Kentucky, the most popular staff members don’t teach a single class. Henry and Maisy are two English Cream Golden Retrievers who belong to Jim Hack, the college’s senior facilities manager. He brought them to work one day, watched students abandon their books to pet them, and realized the dogs were doing something the syllabus couldn’t.
The dogs now wear official ID badges and roam campus like they own the place, which they sort of do. Nursing students say time with Henry and Maisy takes the edge off exam weeks and high-pressure simulation labs. For Hack, it’s personal. His wife is a nurse, and his daughter spent nearly three years in treatment for Ewing’s Sarcoma at Kosair Hospital, cared for by nurses the whole way. Sharing the dogs is his way of saying thanks. The only downside? Serious shedding. Hack buys lint rollers by the case and calls the fur “golden glitter.”
Stories like this one hit close to home here on the Suncoast, where so many of our neighbors are nurses, nursing students, or retirees who spent careers in health care. We know the toll that work takes. If a couple of retrievers can lighten it for a few minutes a day, that’s a trade worth making.
Have you ever had a pet or therapy animal get you through a stressful season? Tell us in the comments.
