Delta Society® is an international, non-profit, human service organization with a very unique mission. Uniting millions of Americans who have mental and physical illnesses and disabilities with professionally trained therapy animals and service dogs, Delta Society programs promote human health and well-being through interactions with companion animals.
Animals As Healers
Hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers are sometimes places that are cold, frightening and lonely for their residents and patients. Delta Society recognizes that interactions with specially trained animals help to transform a life of discouragement, fear and sadness into one of happiness, independence and hope. Not only do the animals provide a more comforting, nurturing environment, but patients who have had the opportunity to have these specially trained animals as part of their regimen have shown marked improvements both physically and psychologically.
Delta Society developed the Pet Partners® program to train volunteers and screens their pets for participation in animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and schools. Delta Society-licensed instructors train volunteers and their pets through hands-on workshops, or volunteers can choose a home study course – as well a continuing education newsletter. Before visiting facilities, the pets are independently tested for skills and aptitude by Delta-licensed animal evaluators.
Delta Society's national network links volunteers with facilities in their own communities that request visiting pets, and helps Pet Partners contact facilities to begin visits in new locations. Currently, there are over 8,000 Pet Partners teams in the U.S. and in 4 other countries who provided more than 900,000 hours of community service annually. Registered pets include dogs and cats, but also guinea pigs, rabbits, horses, goats, llamas, donkeys, potbellied pigs, cockatoos, African gray parrots and chickens. Delta Society's animal-assisted therapy services trains healthcare facilities and their staff and helps establish effective programs to benefit patients.
Animals as Guides and Companions
Delta Society can demonstrate that animals have the capabilities to assist their owners in exceptional ways, including acting as ears for those who cannot hear, eyes for those who cannot see, and arms and legs for those who have little or no use of their own. Animals can be trained to open doors, answer telephones, load and unload groceries from the cart to the car to the kitchen counter, turn lights on and off, do laundry and even warn people with epilepsy of impending seizures so they can go to a safe place before the seizure starts.
Delta Society's National Service Dog Center® provides referrals for people who seek specifically trained service dogs that can alert to sounds, guide around obstacles, retrieve dropped articles or provide physical and emotional support. The Center also advocates for the right of people with service animals to enter the workplace and other public places, and provides Service Dogs Welcome!™ employee training kits to businesses.
The efforts of the National Service Dog Center now extend beyond the individual and the service dog to include the family, workplace, and community. While service dogs enable individuals with disabilities to participate more fully in life's activities, the prior lack of community education had created barriers to the access and acceptance of these specially trained dogs.
Delta Society's continued role is to provide education about service dog issues and referrals to appropriate resources. There is a severe shortage of well-trained service dogs and consequently long waiting lists. There are currently thousands of people who are still in need of the help of a service dog. Training a service dog is expensive and takes time and commitment of human counterparts to administer the training. To increase the supply of well-trained service dogs, Delta Society is creating a standard-based Service Dog Trainers Curriculum to prepare more trainers in cities across America. These trainers will be encouraged to obtain animals from shelters and breed rescue groups.
Educating People about Animals
The first point of contact with Delta Society, for most people, is through Delta's Health Benefits of Animals activities. The services are designed to educate the public on the ways a strong human-animal relationship helps people to maintain good health, grow and develop in positive ways, and cope with life's day-to-day challenges such as loss, stress, loneliness and illness.
The public in increasing numbers are visiting Delta Society's web site at www.deltasociety.org for information on a wide range of issues, including the effect of pets on the development of nurturing behavior in children, ways to relieve the damaging effects of loneliness and isolation, how to cope with the death of a beloved pet, and how pets contribute to the overall sense of well-being in a family. Delta also offers the public the use of a library that houses an abundance of information on animals and our health. Library use is by appointment only.
Delta Society publishes a twice-yearly magazine, Interactions, that is available to members, featuring stories on animals that improve the quality of the lives of the people with whom they interact on a daily basis. Membership dues start at $50.
Two Decades of Service and Therapy
Professionals and academics from the veterinary and human health fields who strongly believed that animals have the power to heal founded Delta Society in 1977 in Portland, Oregon. Funding and promoting scientific studies to understand how animals affect human health, Delta Society educates people about how interactions with animals reduces stress, alleviates depression and positively affects the cardiovascular system in humans. In the past two decades, Delta Society has created a powerful, nationwide network of volunteers, healthcare professionals, administrators, educators and scientists who believe that animal interactions is key to people's health and well being.
Today, with headquarters near Seattle, Washington, Delta Society is continuing in its efforts to empower and educate its volunteers and professional experts in order to advance the field and help people in need.
