Health & Fitness
Magic the dog brings joy to Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa patients
A Golden Retriever named Magic visits patients, doctors, nurses and staff at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa and brings health benefits.
Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa hospital patient Albert Carusillo seemed relaxed as he petted the 58-pound Golden Retriever sprawled across his lap. But bringing a sense of calm is exactly what the dog, named Magic, is trained to do for the patients and staff he visits at the hospital.
“I get along with all animals,” said Carusillo, as he smoothed Magic’s golden fur. “Oh, he makes me feel warm and heartful.”
Magic is a certified pet therapy dog and under the guidance of his handler Meghann Brock, Magic makes the rounds of the Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center twice a week, bringing health benefits to patients, doctors, nurses and staff.
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“He can help alleviate stress,” said Brock, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa. “When Magic visits staff, they tell me, ‘I can feel my heart rate going down, it’s been a real stressful day, I feel so much better now’.”
Research shows therapy dogs provide health benefits from lowering blood pressure to helping anxious children get their shots. Initially, Magic was brought on during the difficult days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“Magic was for our physicians and our employees who were working so hard, under such stressful conditions through the pandemic,” said P.L. Maillard, Medical Group Administrator at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa. “I knew we needed pet therapy, and I knew of the power pet therapy can have to alleviate stress and anxiety.”
Brock said Magic went through eight months of training and is now certified as a pet therapy dog. The dog can respond to several commands but mostly, Magic, reads the room and senses what patients or hospital staff need.
“We visited a very sick patient whose family was with them in the room, and I was watching how Magic made the whole room feel better,” recalled Brock. “It was a very sad case and really tragic and Magic understood the assignment, he knew where he was needed.”
When visiting young patients, Magic senses what they need. When the patients want to play – he plays. And when they are tired and need a nap – he lays down with them.
But regardless of the age of the patient, everyone loves him.
As his handler Brock says: “You can’t have a bad day when you’re petting a fluffy Golden Retriever.”
