Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation is honored to have received a $30,000 grant from the Margaret and Peter Chang Foundation to fund two years of care expenses for CSH Mountainside's Long Term Care Center facility dog, Gallop. Gallop is an essential part of the care team at CSH and as a full time therapy dog she has special requirements like frequent grooming, food, emergency veterinary costs, supplements, treats, food, toys and other supplies. In addition to every day expenses, funds from the grant were used to produce adorable Gallop pillows for each child in our long term care center so the kids can have Gallop with them all the time.

Gallop, a full time staff member at CSH, rounds twice a day with the medical team and, when appropriate, participates in medical procedures as emotional support for patients.  Gallop was generously donated to CSH by Mickey's Kids Charitable Foundation and is overseen by two handlers—Andrea Greenspan (physical therapist), and Amy Schiano (recreational therapist). Her handlers attended a training program at Canine Assistants in Milton, Georgia, where Gallop began her training when she was just one week old. A purebred Golden Retriever, Gallop is an incredibly confident, competent, interactive and loving dog who is highly social and enjoys meeting EVERYONE.

The facility dog program at CSH began about six years ago at our New Brunswick inpatient hospital and has been incredibly successful. The program helps our patients with emotional support, stress and anxiety relief, as well as treatment motivation and compliance. Today, we are proud to have three full time facility dogs on staff—Gallop in Mountainside, Maui in New Brunswick, and Bear in our Toms River long term care center.

The nationally recognized Long Term Care program at CSH provides dignified, loving care for infants, children and adolescents with long-term, complex medical needs. Our long term care residents have complicated care requirements such as critical airways (i.e. tracheostomy), mechanical ventilator dependency, seizure disorders, neuromuscular diseases, chromosomal disorders, and terminal illnesses among others. Most children in our long term care centers are so medically fragile that they cannot leave our facility for even a day, making it vitally important that they feel comfortable, joyful, loved, and at home within our walls. 

Many patients in our long term care center are nonverbal and must rely on unique communication methods. As you can imagine, not being able to communicate their thoughts, needs and desires can make our children anxious and stressed. They can be easily overwhelmed and Gallop helps soothe their frustration. Gallop is a friend to our patients who can interact with them, provide comfort and security, without them having to say a word. Most importantly, Gallop can to give our medically fragile patients, who cannot live at home with their families, incredible amounts of unconditional love and attention. She creates a homelike setting and demonstrates how CSH goes above and beyond the average standard of healthcare to meet the needs of the children in our care.