![\"Therapy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/w8bpaeeqw6o5j3ba.jpg\")
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PHILADELPHIA – Jefferson University Hospital is welcoming new therapy dogs to its team, with puppies like Maggie and Brucey preparing to support staff and students, according to hospital leaders.<\/p>\n
Therapy dogs join hospital staff to reduce stress <\/p>\n
What we know:<\/p>\n
The therapy dogs, including Maggie and Brucey, will work in Jefferson University Hospital to help reduce stress for workers and students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We know from the research it reduces stress our students come between exams and really enjoy the opportunity to relax,” said Susan Aldridge, president of Thomas Jefferson University.<\/p>\n
The dogs will roam the halls, nursing stations and classrooms on Jefferson\u2019s campuses, spreading comfort to those who need it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“On your worst day which many of us have for any reason, illness, stress, multiple meetings you can\u2019t help but relax and smile when you are with a dog,” said Marie Ann Marino, dean of Thomas Jefferson University College of Nursing.<\/p>\n
Brucey, a 5-month-old chocolate Labrador retriever, was named after Bruce Michell, a Vietnam veteran and friend of Pete Chiarrocci, owner of Chickie\u2019s and Pete\u2019s, who recently passed away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I wanted to honor him. He is honored and he should be honored because he\u2019s a veteran he was at war with bullets flying and he made it,” said Chiarrocci.<\/p>\n
All the therapy dogs are trained by Leashes of Valor, a Virginia-based organization that provides no-cost therapy dogs to combat veterans.<\/p>\n
The role of therapy dogs in healing and support <\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s not a pill, it\u2019s not a shot, it\u2019s not a beer but it\u2019s helping and it\u2019s saving lives we didn\u2019t think we could,” said Chris Bowers of Leashes of Valor.<\/p>\n
Bowers, a retired U.S. Marine who was injured in Iraq in 2008, shared his experience with therapy dogs. “The lessons that that little black dog taught me outweighed any class I ever sat in. I think at the end of the day it\u2019s healing souls as much as it\u2019s healing wounds,” said Bowers.<\/p>\n
Soon, Brucey will head back to Fredericksburg, Virginia for two years of intense training before joining the Jefferson University staff.<\/p>\n
The addition of therapy dogs aims to provide emotional support and relief to those working in high-stress hospital environments.<\/p>\n
What we don’t know:<\/p>\n
It is not yet clear exactly when Brucey and the other therapy dogs will officially begin their roles at Jefferson University Hospital or how many dogs will be added in total.<\/p>\n
The Source: \u00a0Interviews with hospital leaders, Leashes of Valor, and FOX 29\u2019s Chris O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n
News<\/a>Health<\/a>Philadelphia<\/a>Pets and Animals<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA – Jefferson University Hospital is welcoming new therapy dogs to its team, with puppies like Maggie and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1057,139,539,6683,69,71,70,593],"class_list":["post-184998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-health","tag-news","tag-pa","tag-pets-animals","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}