Hospital celebrates service dog’s heroism amid pandemic

• Dr. Susan Ryan is a dog raiser volunteer at Canine Companions for Independence.
• For two years, she raised Wynn, a service dog, to become a goodwill ambassador for dog service and assistance.
• Wynn spent her last year being a service dog at Rose Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, where she was hailed a hero during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus-2019 pandemic truly revealed real-life heroes of our time.

Wynn, a service dog, proved that he too, can be a hero, in her own special way.

The year 2019 was probably the busiest year for emergency room physician Dr. Susan Ryan. To ease the burden and the gravity of her work, she brought Wynn with her at the Rose Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.

Wynn has spent her last two years in Susan’s care, who volunteers as a dog raiser at Canine Companions for Independence.

Service dogs like Wynn are being trained to become an assistance dog and goodwill ambassador for therapy, a service animal for a veteran with PTSD, or a helper for a child with special needs.

It was the perfect timing for Wynn to have spent her last few months with Susan, as

Wynn was put on some real on-the-job training when she regularly accompanied Susan to the hospital, giving some love and TLC to the hospital staff and patients alike!

According to the hospital staff, when they were feeling overwhelmed with their duty as frontliners during the pandemic, Wynn would effortlessly comfort them, easing up their heavy load even a bit.

“We all witnessed a lot this year. We had incredible camaraderie, we were the best team I ever imagined being around, and she was part of our team — she saw us through,” Susan said. “People would just pet her and break out into a smile when it was just the hardest day.”

Susan, who raised Wynn to become who she is now, was just so proud of her. And although Susan was ready to give her back to the program, she felt all sad and emotional at the same.

“She taught me how to stay present in the worst year of our lives, and that’s a pretty big lesson,” Susan proudly said.

It turned out that the hospital staff were all as equally sad to give Wynn away, so they made sure she would get a send-off party that she deserves.

Wynn was hailed a service dog hero, and she was surely celebrated as one of the modern-day heroes in the midst of the pandemic! Wynn’s last day at the hospital was made truly memorable, when she was given a hero’s party complete with goodbye messages, dog treats, and buckets of tears!

Susan was absolutely one proud dog mama!

Source: Inspire More