“We have been preparing for a year and a half animals that we remove from cruelty and abuse. In this case “Andy,” He is a farmer who was taken out almost three years ago of cruelty, we had been preparing him with our socialization team, with our trainer and, within the new political platform of Mayor Mariano Gaido, we proposed this new program, the Mayor gave us the OK and We started working on it,” he said. Andrea Ferracioli, Undersecretary of Healthy Cities, in dialogue with LU5.
In addition to “Andy”, there is also “Naomi” and the cat “Rito”a disabled feline that suffered severe burns and, for nine months, received skin grafts.
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“Andy” one of the dogs that is part of the program.
Ferracioli said that they have been working with the Castro Rendón hospital for some time, so they proposed the program to the management of the hospital with which they had previous meetings and, finally, this Wednesday they launched the program with Andy. “It was the first intervention we had. It lasted approximately 40 minutes. We did a reconnaissance of the entire hospital with Andy and we were with the patients who were waiting to be treated, to get appointments, with the Pediatrics and vaccination areas,” he said. The program will run every Wednesday at the Castro Rendón hospital.
At first, they toured the waiting rooms to see people’s reaction and were very surprised because “Their faces changed when they saw us enter.“In addition, according to what he said, the children were “crazed” and some doctors even asked to enter their offices.
“Animals do not work, what they do is bond with people, We are not talking about work, we are talking about interaction, an interaction that is extremely important because what it does is socialize and try to ensure that these activities provide a friendly feeling, peace and balance with nature in a space where one feels bad or he is going on a shift, or he is hospitalized,” clarified the municipal official.
Benefits of interacting with animals
The official explained that the greatest benefit for children is the improvement of learning, control of their body and mind, and concentration. In turn, she said that they plan to incorporate more activities and also focus on psychomotor skills. “There were children with disabilities, the dog approached and that helps a lot with the cognitive part,” she said.
“Animals are unconditional, they are warm companions and the truth is that this interaction between humans and non-human animals allows us to have many benefits in terms of health, for example, in older adults shows a decrease in blood pressure, a reduction in heart rate, and a reduction in stress,” he stressed.
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How are animals chosen to be emotional assistants?
The capacity of the dogs is determined by the trainer they work with, who not only trains the animals that attend hospitals, children’s homes and that are part of this program, but also the search and rescue team. It is also training the Civil Defense area of the Municipality of Rincón de los Sauces with which an agreement for search and rescue was signed. “It’s not that we go with just any dog, we go with a fully trained dog“, held.
Regarding the story of “Andy”, he said that he was rescued from cruelty and We worked for seven months to be able to have him in healthy conditions. together with the veterinary team. Later he entered the area of socialization and training, where he demonstrated many advantages. As an example, the official exemplified that He loved kids, so they started taking him to schools.. “Now he doesn’t go anymore because he’s an adult, so we look for activities that are more recreational for him too, because he needs to be in contact with people and then we thought it was ideal for this program,” he said.
“There is a lot of great work behind the Ciudad Saludable team for These animals, through linkingthey also feel happy, because we not only think of the human, but also we think of the animal“, he recognized as one of the key points of the program.
Finally, he remembered that this Friday there is vaccination at the neighborhood commission of the Progreso neighborhood, located at Chajarí 2650, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Saturday, meanwhile, it will be in the Río Grande neighborhood, at Doménech 276, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
