Every Sunday for more than 15 years, drama teacher Tony Catanese and his dog, Dodger, have been visiting patients at Exempla Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge as part of the hospital’s Pet Therapy Program.

“I was drawn to the program after a long hospital stay of my own,” Catanese says. “I could see my wife and family members while I was sick, but I really missed my pets.”

Dodger, a terrier-schnauzer mix adopted from the Denver Dumb Friends League, has been working in the Pet Therapy Program since he was a puppy.

“We went through the training program together, and even though he’s a terrier, which means he’s an energetic dog, he learned he had a job to do,” Catanese says. The minute Dodger has his uniform on, which consists of a scarf and a badge, and they walk through the doors of the hospital, his personality transforms. He knows he is there to help people.

“We used to visit patients in their rooms,” he says. “But now Dodger is almost 18 years old and has some trouble walking, so we primarily call on hospice patients or stop in the hospital lobby, where patients come to visit us. Sometimes, we make an appearance in an operating room waiting area so Dodger can comfort the families of patients whose loved ones are in surgery.” A diabetic himself, the dog gets insulin twice a day, which patients find inspiring.

Dodger gets into bed with hospice patients and takes rides in wheelchairs with pediatric patients. He puts a smile on the face of gravely ill individuals, dissipating their depression at least for a moment.

Catanese says, “I always knew volunteerism was a part of me, and I had to do it. This program is ideal because you get to work with your own animal. When you volunteer, you learn so much about yourself. I’ve learned the importance of loving people and being present for them.”

Service learning is an integral component of the Graland curriculum, and Tony Catanese is a prime example of how members throughout the school community value and embrace the concept. For more information about Graland’s service learning program, click here.