Kaiser's Therapy Dog

I should be reading a student's novel that I'm critiquing but it's been a while since I've blogged so here goes.

I will not get into details, dear Readers, but I was in Kaiser's emergency room last week, not because of me but of someone else. The last time I had been in Kaiser's emergency room was years ago. I was surprised to find it less crowded and less frenentic and depressing. In the past there were these sick, groaning people, sometimes bleeding people, crammed in the waiting room. This visit, it didn't look like that. Maybe the sense of order was because of some changes made, such as the triage rooms. The nurses determine who needs immediate attention or who can wait, and dispatch patients in an orderly fashion to the doctors. Past reception, there were various pods or clusters of rooms ran by a certain number of doctors, nurses, and administrators. Over all, it was better this time.

Even though I've grumbled about Kaiser, I have to hand it to them. The emergency visit resulted in thorough tests, and the visit cost only $50. Surely it would have been thousands of dollars elsewhere.

The best part of this Kaiser experience was the Therapy Dog that came to visit. This beautiful golden labrador with sunglasses on and his owner/trainer stopped by to visit. The dog had a cape that said, "Riley, Therapy Dog," and his master had him do tricks. It was amusing and brightened this ER visit.

I'd read that seniors who own pets live longer, so maybe pets can indeed provide health benefits.

This sounds a bit fantastic for me to consider because our cat is selfish and self-centered, but despite her unrelenting selfishness she is amusing and lightens our lives.

A short entry this time, dear Readers, I have to get back to the novel that I'm critiquing.

For more information about therapy pets, click here, and here.