元気になってね　チリの小児科病院訪ねるセラピー犬

【サンティアゴＡＦＰ＝時事】南米チリの首都サンティアゴにある小児科病院に特別な客が訪れると、明るい声があちらこちらから上がった。つぶらな瞳で尻尾を振る４匹の犬が、病気の子どもらにひとときの安らぎをもたらしている。（写真はチリ・サンティアゴのエセキエル・ゴンサレス・コルテス小児科病院で、セラピー犬のモロンを抱く手術を控えた女の子）
　ピパ、モロン、ペペそしてチムの４匹が定期的に訪れているのは、エセキエル・ゴンサレス・コルテス小児科病院だ。手術を控えた子どもらだけでなく、新型コロナウイルス感染症（ＣＯＶＩＤ－１９）との何か月もの闘いで精神的・肉体的に疲弊した病院スタッフらにも、多くの喜びを与えている。
　写真と名前の入った身分証明書をつけた犬たちは、子どもたちのベッドを順番に回る。抱きしめられたり、小さな手でぎこちなくなでてもらったりする間、辛抱強く座っている。
　犬と触れ合うことで、子どもらは痛みや体に巻いた包帯、しょっちゅう鳴っている医療機器の音をほんの一瞬、忘れることができるのだ。
　頭に包帯をした女の子はベッドの上で顔を喜びに輝かせて、黒いラブラドルレトリバーのモロンをなでて抱きしめた。
　病院訪問を取り仕切る「トレグア・ファンデーション」のドッグセラピスト、フェルナンダ・ロメロ氏は「子どもの顔がどんなに明るく輝くかを見ることに、この活動の意義があるのです」と語る。
　小児外科医のヨランダ・プーラン氏は「９０％以上の子どもが、ドッグセラピーによって不安が軽減されています」と指摘する。
　「このセラピーは、泣いたり怖がったりする子や、何時間もの絶食でおなかをすかせた子の助けになっています」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/06-16:13）

At a children's hospital in Santiago there is a flurry of excitement over a delegation of special visitors: a four-legged quartet has arrived to offer some reprieve from sickness and pain with their wagging tails and soulful eyes.
Pipa, Morron, Pepe and Chimu are regular visitors to the Exequiel Gonzalez Pediatrics Hospital in the Chilean capital, where they bring as much joy to children awaiting surgery as to their caregivers, many emotionally and physically drained by months battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sporting hospital visitor's tags with their names and mugshots, the motley crew -- two big dogs and two small -- make their way from bed to bed, sharing cuddles and sitting patiently through the often inept attempts of small hands at brushing their coats.
For a moment, the little ones forget their pain, their bandages, and the incessant beeping of hospital electronics.
In one bed, a girl - her face bandaged but beaming with joy - brushes then hugs Morron, a black Labrador.
In the corridor a girl in a bright pink tracksuit gleefully walks two of the dogs on leashes -- or rather, they walk her.
To see how a child's face lights up is what gives this meaning, said canine therapist Fernanda Romero of the Tregua Foundation, the group that organizes the visits.
It is a near-magical experience, she told AFP.
- 'Helps reduce anxiety' -
The foundation organizes hospital visits to calm young patients before and after surgery.
We have noticed in more than 90 percent of the children that canine therapy helps to reduce anxiety, pediatric surgeon Yolanda Poulin told AFP.
A child who is crying, fearful and hungry because they have had to fast for several hours -- the therapy helps them.
The dogs -- mainly Labradors and Golden Retrievers, animals known for their calm demeanor -- are trained from an early age to handle the stressful hospital environment with its bright lights and constant machine noises.
During the pandemic the dogs have also been brought in to calm the hospital's doctors, nurses and technicians, exhausted after months of coronavirus duty.
The dogs have been shown to relieve stress among the adults as well as kids, said Nicole Faust, one of the canine therapists.
Many say: 'How nice that the dog was here, I needed it, I was so stressed, I just had a super complicated patient, I just went through a hard experience', she said.
It has helped them a lot to forget work for a while, said Faust, concerned for the mental health of medical personnel in the frontline of the battle against a pandemic that has claimed some 35,000 lives in Chile.