Spending special dates away from home turns out to be very difficult, especially when you are a child, you are sick and you find yourself in a hospital spending Christmas away from your friends and family. Luckily, there are people who love to share that joy with those who need it most.

Thinking of brightening Christmas for inpatients at Texas Children’s Hospital, the medical center directors decided to surprise everyone with an unexpected visit. It involved four furry visitors: Elsa, Pinto, Pluto, Bailey, and their caretakers, all dressed in Christmas pajamas and ready to say hello.

The visitors walked throughout the hospital and brightened the day of the patients and relatives who were in the neurology and transplant room.

Dogs brought happiness to hospital patients

Undoubtedly, the arrival of these beautiful dogs cheered up the patients’ day so much that, according to their parents, they could not hide their beautiful smiles.

In addition, some mothers revealed that the visit of the dogs was a good distraction for the children, who could forget their problems a little. Also, they helped patients feel calm, and thus better express their emotions while spending Christmas in a hospital.

The four Golden Retrievers belong to the hospital’s Texas Children’s Pawsitive Play Program, which is designed to improve the emotional well-being of patients and families.

There, assisted therapy dogs provide emotional support to all people who have problems facing a certain situation in the hospital.

The dogs received strict and special training to serve in pediatric hospital settings, so they know very well what they are doing. Likewise, they work full-time hand in hand with child life specialists from the hospital, in order to coordinate the emotional support process.

“In fact, they have been training for this their entire lives!”

The Texas Children’s Pawsitive Play Program was born at the end of 2016, but at that time they only had the help of a dog named Elsa. Then, they added the other dogs to the work team, who since they arrived have started working hard to make Texas Childrens a better place.

“Our program has seen tremendous growth and we are beyond excited to expand our ability to more effectively impact more patients and families.”

The most important thing about this beautiful work is that these furry heroes made the Christmas season special for these children and families.

Which proves once again that just a small beautiful gesture is enough to change a person’s world.