Reducing anxiety with robotic seals

Kimberly Hopkins, a focus group member and mother of a 10-year-old with ASD, said she was impressed by Bayhealth’s drive to better serve people with special needs and meaningfully involve their families in the project. “Bayhealth did a great job. They were very inclusive, asking our group for feedback on every aspect and applying it to create positive change,” said Hopkins.

Speech Pathologist Arielle Allentoff, MS, CCC-SLP, helped develop the social stories, which team members have found useful not just for those with ASD, but Two new members recently joined the pet therapy team — Klondike Bar and Sully, both of which are therapeutic robotic seals. Each hospital has one seal. Klondike Bar is at Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus and Sully is at Bayhealth Hospital, Sussex Campus. Each seal has a main handler and can be requested through Patient Advocacy. The goal is to make the seal visit a therapeutic treat. At the end of each day, the seals go through an extensive cleaning process. Lead Patient Advocate Jane Hewitt has already seen the benefits of the seals on patients. “They have a calming effect. They’re also children of all ages, as well as adults with dementia or intellectual disabilities. ED Senior Nurse Manager Brad Crabtree, MSN, RN, CEN, said all ED staff now have mandatory ASD education. And there’s a process for adding notification to electronic health records for these patients to aid in their future care. “This is helping achieve better outcomes and is directly related to the patient experience, which is a priority for us,” said Crabtree.

Hopkins emphasized the community impact of these new sensory-friendly protocols and rooms. “It means so much knowing interactive and respond to patients when they’re spoken to,” Hewitt said. “Caring for patients is about the body, mind and spirit, and our use of the seals supports that. This very much fits into our Planetree philosophy of care.” Along with using them for dementia patients, Hewitt said the seals can also be used for patients with autism spectrum disorder. Use of the robotic seals is just one example of the work Bayhealth team members do to follow the Planetree philosophy of care. Bayhealth is a Planetreerecognized organization, and follows Planetree’s mission to make patients partners in their that if my son needs emergency care, we can go to a safe and private space that won’t be overwhelming to him, and to me as his parent,” she said. “This will help so many people on the spectrum and their families feel more supported in our community. This is what patient-centered care truly means.”

Bayhealth welcomes families of those with ASD or other developmental disabilities to arrange a time to visit the ED, to help increase familiarity for

IF A MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY HAS ASD AND WOULD LIKE ASSISTANCE AT BAYHEALTH, CALL BRAD CRABTREE AT 302-744-7297 TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS.

potential visits in the future. ■ care. Visit Bayealth.org/Planetree to learn more about how Bayhealth became a Planetreerecognized healthcare system. ■