Unleashing Courage: First Lady Debbie Binder

Speaker 1:

Sometimes healing comes in unexpected ways. A wagging tail, a gentle nudge, a loyal friend who shows up at exactly the right moment. At Shriners Children's, pet therapy is more than a visit. It's comfort when a child's afraid. It's confidence when a challenge feels overwhelming. It's a connection that helps children feel safe, supported, and ready to take the next step forward.

Larry Leib, Imperial Potentate:

When a child who is upset and feeling badly about themselves sees a dog walk into the room or the dog come up to them, their smile just becomes so bright. We believe that sometimes love overcomes medicine through pet therapy, which is why I decided to create this program.

Speaker 1:

Through trusted partnerships, certified support animals and their handlers bring specialized support directly to our patients, families, and care teams. What may look like a simple interaction can have a profound impact. For a child facing fear, uncertainty, or pain, it can be the moment they smile again, the moment they relax, the moment they find the courage to keep going.

Cara Greenwald, Child Life Specialist:

The benefit that our therapy dogs can provide are a sense of familiarity, comfort. They're immediately relaxed when they start interacting with the dog. They see that the dog is very relaxed and calm. They have this outlet to just start engaging and interacting with the dog that just provides them this sense of stability and comfort while they're here.

Speaker 1:

A support animal helps reduce anxiety, ease stress, and build trust during some of the most difficult moments in a child's journey. Before a procedure, a support dog can help calm fears. During rehabilitation, they become a source of motivation and encouragement. One more step, one more stretch, one more breakthrough, and sometimes one more reason to believe that anything is possible.

Speaker 3:

I think it'd be great to have a dog by your side when you're nervous about surgery or what's going to come after surgery.

David Frei, Co-Host of National Dog Show on NBC:

When a dog walks into the room, the energy changes and that's mostly obvious when you're with kids.

Speaker 1:

Long after appointments and treatments are over, families often remember the dogs who walk beside them through it all because healing isn't only physical, it's emotional, it's human. And sometimes comfort arrives on four paws, offering companionship, reassurance, and unconditional love when it's needed most.

Debbie Binder, First Lady:

I hope that everyone who's out there or involved in Shriners in any way will get involved in helping support this program. Again, whether it's financially, with your time, whatever it is that you can give to make a difference with helping this program be successful, because I think we're going to see that it is extremely successful.

Speaker 1:

You can help bring more of these life-changing experiences to Shriners Children's. Through the purchase of Women Impacting Care jewelry and special items, you help support programs that provide comfort, encouragement, and connection to patients and families, helping transform fear into confidence, challenges into progress, and difficult days into moments of hope, because sometimes the right connection can change everything.

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