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Living Life After 50
Allen County Edition Reaching Fort Wayne And Surrounding Counties
July 2025
Vol. 38, No. 3
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com
Therapy dog lifts spirits at Dupont Hospital By ROD KING Feature Writer Karen Moessner is a regular at Dupont Hospital. She shows up every Tuesday around 1 p.m., but she’s not there for blood work, X-rays or surgery. Instead she brings smiles that many times produces tears of joy. With her is her therapy dog, Finn, who is the one who really brings the smiles. According to Bob Bergeron, president of the 108-member Three Rivers Visiting Dogs, the current membership of the organization have logged 26,000 visits to hospitals, nursing homes, public schools and colleges in Allen and surrounding counties. “In fact, when you include retired members, the number of visits is over 50,000. Our members are making visits every day of the week but Sundays,” he said. Research has shown the dogs have the ability to relieve stress by helping patients put aside their ills while interacting with the dogs. “The dogs are a very good distraction. We hear from families of patients that loved ones who seldom speak, spoke to the dogs for the first time in many years. In addition, patients who were totally immobile show movement when petting the dogs,” he said.
Bergeron said it’s not uncommon to witness tears of joy by patients and family members alike. Bergeron takes his golden retriever and labrador retriever on visits three to four times per week. “Two to three times a week, we receive requests for special visits at churches and community events. We even get requests to go to area colleges to help relieve stress experienced by students during final exams,” he said. Bergeron, who has had dogs most of his adult life, joined TRVD in 2003 and became president of the organization in 2022. The University of Michigan graduate named his first golden retriever, Blue, and his second one, Maze. He got interested in therapy dogs through his wife, pediatrician Dr. Lisa Bergeron, who has long been an advocate for therapy dogs for children. “The future of the visiting dog program is indeed promising and will become more common place as it pertains to the welfare of humans. They’re contribution in the medical arena is well documented. They’re credited with being able to detect seizures and diabetic episodes before they occur and stage No. 1 cancer,” he said. “Therapy dogs have also proved to be able to help lower patient’s blood
ON THE JOB — Therapy dog, Finn, and owner, Karen Moessner, right, go to Dupont Hospital every Tuesday to bring smiles and tears of joy patients. Moessner has been taking therapy dogs to hospitals and nursing homes for the past 19 years. Finn brings smiles to Lori Resor, left, who is waiting for a friend at the hospital. Photo by Rod King.
pressure and reduce stress and anxiety.” TRVD conducts its own dog and handler training. To become TRVD therapy dogs, they must take a class at the Byron Health Center on Beacon Street. As Bergeron puts it, “Some dogs have what it takes and others just don’t. We’re looking for excitable dogs because the people like them and get excited as well.”
They must have basic obedience training, like to be around people and get along with other dogs. “They must also learn to become accustom to a variety of sights, sounds and smells so that they won’t be uncomfortable in many environmental situations and won’t react negatively,” he said. Bergeron said golden retrievers and labrador retrievers
are the most common therapy dogs. “But we have every type of dog from chihuahuas to great danes. It’s always interesting to see the shock factor when a great dane walks in the door. They’re among the most docile and friendly dogs,” he said. “All of our therapy dogs are also family pets and our members are all volunteers,” Bergeron said.