When an 8-year-old cancer patient at Children's Hospital at Montefiore Einstein began shaking with tremors after doctors removed the child's breathing tube and reduced sedative medications, it wasn't a new drug that steadied them — it was a Labrador retriever named Polly. Her handler, child life specialist Katy Dessick, said Polly's presence helped calm the patient and reduced the frequency of the tremors.
That moment, recounted in an exclusive New York Post report, is one glimpse into the daily work of facility dogs inside two of New York City's pediatric hospital units. Polly works at Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) in the Bronx, while a seven-year-old Labrador retriever named Lev serves the pediatric unit at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, according to the Post. Facility dogs are specially trained canines who work alongside health care professionals, and experts say they can help children manage anxiety, navigate frightening procedures and cope with serious illness.
Trained for Six Months, Working Nearly Three Years
Polly, a Labrador retriever, is a facility dog who visits children across CHAM's inpatient and outpatient pediatric specialties. Per Montefiore Einstein, she spent six months in professional training with expert instructors at Canine Companions, an organization that has provided facility dogs free of charge since 1975. Polly and Dessick have worked together for nearly three years, according to the Post, and her calm temperament helps Dessick navigate emotionally challenging situations on the job.
Montefiore Einstein's institutional account describes Polly as a 2-year-old Black Labrador, while the Bronx Times has separately described her as a 3-year-old black Labrador. The two outlets also diverge on her caseload: Montefiore Einstein says Polly sees around seven patients a day, while the Bronx Times reports four to six patients daily and more than 1,000 interactions in the prior year. Her training, certification and ongoing-care costs are covered by donor sponsorships, including funds Kevin Shattenkirk raised through a partnership with the Jam Kancer In The Kan Foundation to bring her to CHAM.
Helping Kids Recover, Speak Up and Keep Moving
Beyond moments of acute distress, Polly helps children recovering from surgery get the encouragement they need to get out of bed and walk, per Montefiore Einstein. She also assists children who need motivation to have open conversations about difficult and stressful topics, such as eating disorders. Her adaptability allows patients with different physical abilities to interact with her comfortably, and facility dogs more broadly can help teenagers express emotions through therapeutic art projects, per the Post's reporting.
Adit L. Tal, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at CHAM, told the Post that children receiving care for blood disorders and cancer often struggle to express their feelings to their medical teams — but facility dogs help them open up and speak more freely. Tal said facility dogs can encourage patients to participate in physical therapy, get out of bed for walks and follow treatment plans, and that the dogs can also help reduce patients' need for pain medication and ease fears about medication, central line insertions and upcoming procedures.
Lev's Role at Maimonides
Across the East River at Maimonides Medical Center, Lev has worked in the pediatric unit since he was a few weeks old, paired with handler Gabriel, according to the Post. Lev receives treats from patients, something children enjoy giving him, and Gabriel said a child who was quiet, nervous or having a difficult day may end up smiling, petting Lev and interacting with him. The goal, Gabriel told the Post, is to give children comfort, happiness and normalcy, and to briefly help them forget the hospital experience altogether.
Both programs are backed by the Encourage Kids Foundation, a New York City-based nonprofit that supports facility dog programs at CHAM and Maimonides and works with hospitals to improve the pediatric experience through initiatives including pet and music therapy, per the Post. Facility dogs can also offer medical staff moments of calm amid emotionally taxing hospital work, and Tal said having the dog there to help keep calm has been imperative to staff well-being.
What the Research Says
The benefits described by CHAM and Maimonides staff echo findings from broader research on hospital facility dogs. A 2023 study surveyed medical staff at a Japanese children's hospital, drawing on 431 responses out of 626 full-time staff members, with 270 who had observed facility-dog activities included in the final analysis. Among those respondents, 73% reported the dogs always or very often helped patients cooperate with treatment, procedures and end-of-life care, and the study's authors found the impact of facility dogs in terminal care ranked highest among the effects evaluated.
The American Cancer Society, which launched its ACS PAWS program in 2023 to expand animal-assisted therapy for children and teens with cancer, points to research linking the practice with reduced pain perception and distress during procedures like blood draws and needlesticks, along with lower stress, anxiety and cortisol levels, according to the organization. At Dayton Children's Hospital, a separate program using facility dogs nicknamed the Canine Co-Pilots was associated with 71% lower odds of physical restraints, an average of 18.5 fewer minutes spent in restraints, and 37% lower odds of medication use, per the Children's Hospital Association. Those figures describe program-level outcomes reported elsewhere and aren't presented as results tied directly to Polly or Lev's work in New York.
