Changed
Changed
For 40 years, the Children’s Hospital Foundation has been Queensland’s only charity dedicated to supporting children facing all injuries and conditions. In that time, it has invested more than $264 million into paediatric research, equipment, and services. As the official charity partner to the Queensland Children’s Hospital, the Foundation continues to bridge the gap between medical expertise and emotional support, not only bringing world-class paediatric care to young patients, but also something just as powerful – connection.
Children’s Hospital Foundation’s Director of Impact, Nick Van Dyke, shares, “Supporting children’s health is not just about the actual care itself. It’s about providing a sense of hope, comfort, and the chance for every child to live their most fulfilling life.”
One of the latest ways the Foundation brings this principle to life is through their Paw Play program, an animal-assisted therapy service helping to create calm moments during hospital life.
With Brisbane Airport’s Community Giving Fund supporting its development, this program is a brand-new initiative run internally by the Children’s Hospital Foundation. The program train and supports specialist dog and handler teams who will eventually aim to visit around 480 children every week at the Queensland Children’s Hospital.
“The whole ethos behind Paw Play is to bring comfort and joy. The kids’ gentle interactions with the therapy dogs help to reduce stress, ease pain, and really brightens the hospital stay,” Nick explains.
Animal-assisted therapy isn’t new to Queensland Children’s Hospital. For approximately 15 years, pet therapy brought smiles to young patients before COVID-19 halted the program. Now Paw Play is bringing back the puppy cuddles in a more holistic way than ever before, with the animal-assisted therapy not only intended for patients and their families, but also the hospital staff.
“Staff here dedicate many hours to ensuring that the children get the best possible care, but sometimes the well-being of staff is not necessarily top of mind for themselves,” Nick shares.
This is why Paw Play will offer visits to nurses, doctors, and allied health teams, to provide a small moment to decompress and reset.
Becoming part of the Paw Play team isn’t as simple as showing up with a paw-fect puppy. Both the dogs and their handlers undergo rigorous preparation. The dogs must be calm, responsive, and medically assessed. They’re trained to navigate hospital environments of beeping machines and high emotion with steady confidence and a wagging tail.
Meanwhile, handlers complete infection control training and learn how to support children with a wide range of medical and emotional needs. Handlers and therapy dogs together become a comforting presence, whether it’s sitting with a child before surgery, joining a therapy session, or simply providing a quiet moment of distraction on a tough day.
As Nick explains, “Children need those moments of calm and happiness in what is quite a complex environment at the hospital.”
Paw Play is just one example of how the Foundation is expanding its positive impact on children’s health. “Looking forward, we’re seeing how we can bolster our programs to broaden our impact across regional hospitals as well as the Queensland Children’s Hospital,” Nick shares.
The last 40 years have helped the Children’s Hospital Foundation hone its ability to deliver programs to fill gaps in the medical industry by understanding the emerging needs around paediatric care in Queensland.
Nick shares that such impact can’t be implemented alone, “Brisbane Airport’s support is invaluable to us for making programs like Paw Play possible. It really helps to make the Queensland Children’s Hospital one of the best children’s hospitals in the world and the best in Australia.”
Just as the Children’s Hospital Foundation brings therapy dogs into hospital wards, Brisbane Airport has its own animal-assisted therapy team offering calm to nervous flyers, comfort to tired travellers, and a warm welcome home – further supporting children’s (and adult’s) healthcare beyond hospital walls.
For businesses interested in supporting the Children’s Hospital Foundation, whether through donations, volunteering, or raising awareness, there are many ways to get involved that are vital to the Foundation’s efforts to improve children’s medical care in Queensland.
“Every contribution makes a real difference,” Nick remarks.