Therapy dogs have been used by physicians and therapists for years to help patients deal with stressful situations. A more recent use for therapy dogs that has been gaining prominence is using them to help nurses and doctors dealing with the stresses of the job in connection with treating patients during the coronavirus pandemic.

One therapy dog, appropriately nicknamed Dogtor Loki, has been taking this therapy a step further.

Loki works with the nurses at the University of Maryland Medical Center

Working at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Dogtor Loki has been delivering special “hero healing kits” to the staff that works there. Owned by second-year medical student Caroline Benzel, Loki has been tending to the nurses at the medical center to make sure that they are doing OK.

Benzel adopted Loki specifically for his skills as a therapy dog

Loki was adopted by Benzel just as she was entering the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Her initial aim in getting Loki was to see the positive effect he might have on her ailing grandfather. As a therapy dog, he had been trained to help ill and injured patients.

“My grandfather was sick, and I lived with him in his hospital room for a month,” Benzel told ABC7. “When he would see this dog, he would light up.”

Loki worked at the medical center before the coronavirus outbreak

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Benzel and Loki worked three days a week with the patients at the medical center trying to lift their spirits. As the pandemic set in, Benzel started noticing the stress and strain that having to wear Personnel Protective Gear (PPE) around the clock was having on the nurses.

Hero Healing Kits

“Everyone was wearing PPE 24/7, and because of that, they were getting rashes and irritation from wearing masks,” Benzel said.

To help fight this added burden on the staff, Benzel came up with the care packages, which she likes to call “hero healing kits.” Each kit contains items like healing lotions, moisturizers, Gold Bond powder, Chapstick, chewing gum, and tea. She got all of the items via donations through an Amazon Wishlist that she started.

Inspiring other such programs across the country

“So far, we have raised over 1,400 total kits, but are closer to +1,600 incomplete kits,” Benzel shared on Loki’s Facebook page. “The donations keep coming in!! Needless to say, we are blown away by the kindness and generosity of people.”

Loki’s involvement in the program has inspired other therapy dog owners across the country to do the same at the hospitals where their dogs serve. If you want to help Loki and Benzel’s efforts, you can donate at her Amazon Wishlist here. For more on Dogtor Loki, visit his Instagram or Facebook page.

Watch the video below for more on this special dog and his efforts to help the nurses working at the University of Maryland Medical Center deal with the stresses of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Source: Good Morning America

H/T: People, CNN