SALINAS, CA – October 26, 2012 – Natividad Medical Center announced today that it has launched a Pet Therapy Program. Pet Therapy is an important service for Natividad Medical Center patients and staff. The dogs and their human partners help ease patients’ anxiety and promote shorter recovery time. The dogs are highly trained and know how to interact in a special way with each individual patient.

“It is great to see the dogs show up with their hospital badges and human partners and head right off to visit the patients,” said Rose Herrera, Acute Rehab Unit Nurse Supervisor.

The Pet Therapy team of Valerie Henderson and her Basset Hound “Sugar” visit the Acute Rehab Unit every Tuesday between 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. If you see the team around the hospital, feel free to come up and interact with them, as therapy dogs are for “hugging and petting” and are not service dogs.

Special requests for visits can be made to Volunteer Auxiliary and if a team is available and allowed on the unit, a visit will be arranged. Please contact (831) 755-4215

About Natividad Medical Center
Natividad Medical Center is a Monterey County owned and operated 172 bed acute care hospital providing health care services to the people of the county for more than 125 years. Natividad Medical Center offers inpatient, outpatient, emergency, diagnostic and specialty medical care. NMC provides more than 33,000 patient days each year and more than 42,000 emergency department visits per year. NMC is ranked #1 in newborn deliveries in Monterey County. Natividad is the only teaching hospital on the Central Coast, through its affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With a medical staff of more than 250 physicians, Natividad’s mission is to continually improve the health status of the people of Monterey County through access to affordable, high-quality health care services. Natividad is based in Salinas, California. For more information, please call 831-755-4111 or visit www.natividad.com.