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Therapy dogs comfort people

April 29, 2020

Some furry, four-legged friends saluted the dogged determination of doctors and nurses at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland Tuesday.

The therapy dogs usually make the rounds visiting patients inside the hospital. But because of COVID-19, they need to stay outside.

So, they did the next best thing – showing up to let the medical staff know they care.

“Right here at the hospital, we have either 12 or 14 teams. So, every day of the week there’s a dog that comes and we visit doctors. We go in the medical office building. I always go in the ER,” said Barbara Harmon who works with the therapy pet program.

In normal times, Legacy has 12 to 14 teams of therapy dogs and owners. At least one team is able to visit each day of the week.

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