{"id":16382,"date":"2016-12-28T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=16382"},"modified":"2016-12-28T08:00:04","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T13:00:04","slug":"care-via-canine-taylor-stathes-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/care-via-canine-taylor-stathes-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Care via canine: Taylor Stathes \u201913"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nTaylor Stathes needs her patient, 7-year-old Cadence Corbett,\u00a0to be a captive audience in the hospital MRI waiting room.\u00a0Tablet in\u00a0hand, Stathes previews Cadence\u2019s journey to a\u00a0machine that can be intimidating even to adults. Cadence looks\u00a0hopeful when Stathes tells her about the movie goggles she can wear\u00a0during the three-hour scan, and her anxiety is replaced with joy\u00a0when Stathes puts the goggles on Vivi, Stathes\u2019 coworker and one of\u00a0Greenville Health System\u2019s therapy dogs.
\nFrom the moment Cadence arrives in the waiting room, Vivi is by\u00a0her side. While learning about the MRI, Cadence\u2019s hands never leave\u00a0Vivi\u2019s head or belly. Vivi is Stathes\u2019 not-so-secret weapon, an atomic\u00a0calm bomb.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve taken a back seat to this girl,\u201d Stathes said. \u201cShe lights up\u00a0every room we walk into, she keeps kids calm, and even the toughest\u00a0doctors and nurses in the building melt in her presence.\u201d
\nStathes is modest; she\u2019d rather give Vivi credit than speak of the\u00a0education and experience that got her where she is today. Clemson\u00a0was her only destination from as far back as she can remember. She\u00a0fell in love with the campus and the people, but she didn\u2019t know what\u00a0major would work for her. She just knew she wanted to work with\u00a0kids, so she grabbed a course catalog and searched for what would\u00a0apply.
\nStathes had never heard of recreational therapy, but it fit the bill.\u00a0What she found were supportive faculty members, an innovative\u00a0approach to education and a program that combined everything\u00a0she was passionate about. She said the department was especially\u00a0flexible with her high-pressure schedule as a Clemson cheerleader\u00a0for multiple sports. Stathes\u00a0was a collegiate athlete, but she\u00a0never took her eye off what she\u00a0would be equipped to do after\u00a0graduation.
\n[pullquote]\u201cRecreational therapy\u00a0taught me to look at the whole\u00a0picture of a patient, to be able\u00a0to consider their physical and\u00a0emotional health,\u201d Stathes said.\u00a0\u201cThe program turned me on\u00a0to child life and defined my\u00a0career.\u201d[\/pullquote]
\nStathes went on to earn a\u00a0master\u2019s degree in child life\u00a0from the University of La\u00a0Verne in California. She said\u00a0she was lucky to find work\u00a0at GHS and even luckier to\u00a0discover pet therapy programs\u00a0and their potential benefits.
\nStathes, along with other child\u00a0life employees, quickly secured\u00a0approvals and donations to\u00a0get a more intensive, animal assisted\u00a0therapy program off\u00a0the ground to complement GHS\u2019 existing pet therapy programs. She\u00a0contacted Canine Assistants, the non-profit organization that trained\u00a0and provided two therapy dogs to GHS and paired Vivitar \u2014 Vivi for short\u00a0\u2014 with Stathes. Canine Assistants makes the pairing based on the\u00a0personality of dog and potential handler, but it didn\u2019t take long for Stathes to realize why Vivi was the dog for her.\u00a0\u201cShe\u2019s never met a stranger, she\u2019s always smiling, she wears\u00a0Clemson orange on Fridays and she\u2019s always accessorizing,\u201d Stathes\u00a0said, laughing. \u201cAt least I hope that\u2019s why they paired us up.\u201d\u00a0At first, Stathes was skeptical of the bond-based training that\u00a0Canine Assistants employs. Rather than structure training around\u00a0commands or obedience, the organization pairs the right dog with\u00a0the right person and creates a bond so that the dog is willing to do\u00a0things without the need for a command. Vivi can assist doctors in\u00a0distracting and holding down patients who require a needle poke.
\nAs in the case with Cadence, she can be there to calm while Stathes\u00a0delivers information.\u00a0Luckily, there are no tears during Cadence\u2019s visit, but she\u2019s no fan\u00a0of MRIs. When Cadence\u2019s mother, Reanna Corbett, asks about the\u00a0length of the MRI, Cadence freezes for a moment. However, the look\u00a0of concern disappears from Cadence\u2019s face almost as quickly as it\u00a0arrives because Vivi is goading her for more attention. Later, Corbett\u00a0happily reports that the planned sedation for Cadence wasn\u2019t even\u00a0required despite three spinal scans and a brain scan.\u00a0\u201cTaylor made my daughter feel like a star, and she somehow\u00a0explained everything while making it fun,\u201d Corbett said. \u201cThe only\u00a0things she would talk about the rest of the day were Taylor and Vivi.\u201d
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