"Paws and Play Program Launches At Mount Sinai’s Kravis Children’s Hospital" - Amanda Marrone

In honor of Mount Sinai’s Kravis Children’s Hospital launching its new program, Paws and Play, the hospital’s first facility dog – Professor Bunsen Honeydew – reunited with his pediatric patients. The new program was made possible by a grant from PetSmart Charities. With the launch of the program Mount Sinai is now the first hospital in New York State to pair a Certified Life Child Specialist with a trained facility dog to provide animal assisted therapy. Diane Rode, MPS, assistant professor of pediatrics and child life at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai explained the importance the facility dog will have in the hospital. “We were really looking for a facility dog concept where the same animal will become part of the health care team. Just like you would have a doctor on your team, and you have a social worker on your team, and you have a child life specialist and an art therapist” Dr. Rode said. Professor Bunsen Honeydew will be a full-time employee at Mount Sinai’s Kravis Children’s Hospital, putting in a 40-hour workweek and clocking in five days a week.

- Diane Rode, MPS, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Child Life, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

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