Mariah Stoppie, a registered nurse at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, is greeted by Kaia the facility dog after making her way into the north entrance on a red carpet on Thursday, May 6, 2021. Staff and visitors were given the literal red carpet treatment with posters, cheers, candy and Kaia the facility dog as they entered the main and north entrances of the Medical Center and Children’s Hospital to kick off Nurses' Week and Hospital Week.
Penn State Health
Penn State Health
Mariah Stoppie, a registered nurse at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, is greeted by Kaia the facility dog after making her way into the north entrance on a red carpet on Thursday, May 6, 2021. Staff and visitors were given the literal red carpet treatment with posters, cheers, candy and Kaia the facility dog as they entered the main and north entrances of the Medical Center and Children’s Hospital to kick off Nurses' Week and Hospital Week.
Penn State Health Children’s Hospital’s first dog to provide full-time support to patients, Kaia, died over the weekend. She was 9 years old.
The golden retriever started working in 2016, and was going to retire in the fall, according to Ashley Kane, Kaia’s handler and the manager of the Child Life Program.
Kaia’s job was to bring comfort to the young patients, especially those who were scared about their upcoming tests and procedures.
And Kane said she was great at it, always walking around like she was proud of the work she was doing.
She said one of Kaia’s first major patient interactions was with a 4-year-old boy who was worried about getting a CT scan. Doctors were worried they might have to sedate him to make sure he stayed still.
Then they brought Kaia in.
“Kaia jumped up on the table, did all the things she’s been trained to do, and the little boy got really curious about the CT scan and why Kaia was being so calm, and nothing seemed to be hurting her,” she said. “It didn’t seem that scary, and he got more comfortable. The little boy decided he was going to try this CT scan — just like Kaia had just shown him how to do it.”
It wasn’t just the patients Kaia helped. Kane said everyone in the hospital loved her, and she got an unexpected amount of support since the news of her passing.
“People who are reaching out to me saying, ‘You don’t know me, but she made such a difference,’” she said. “They saw her walking into work in the morning with me and just knew maybe today is going to be a good day because the dog was at work.”
Kaia was the first dog to provide this kind of support full-time in a Pennsylvania children’s hospital, and Penn State Health has expanded the program to include five more dogs — Pilot, Captain, Skye, Thor and Baron.
Kane said she takes inspiration from Kaia.
“Kaia knew no differences. She greeted every person, regardless of their medical condition or their prognosis or their diagnosis or their job title. She treated everybody the same, with kindness and not seeing difference. And I really think that’s something I’ll carry with me — to try to be a better person everyday because of Kaia and the work that she did.”
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