{"id":9265,"date":"2015-01-05T13:58:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T21:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/?p=9265"},"modified":"2015-01-05T13:59:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T21:59:55","slug":"hospital-volunteers-offer-sympathetic-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/2015\/01\/05\/hospital-volunteers-offer-sympathetic-ears\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Volunteers Offer Sympathetic Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joan<\/a>

Joan Ferguson gives a hospital patient an orange bandana.<\/p><\/div>\n

Clients who visit the OSU Veterinary Hospital on Wednesdays get a special treat. Volunteers Joan and Terry Ferguson are on hand to greet them, make sure they have a parking pass, and provide other friendly assistance.<\/p>\n

The Fergusons are former hospital clients who know how stressful it can be when your best friend has a serious illness or needs surgery. Their dog, Gunther, was an oncology patient at the hospital several years ago. \u201cHe was diagnosed with cancer,\u201d says Joan. \u201cWe knew that if anything could be done to help him, this was the place to go.\u201d Gunther had surgery and chemotherapy treatment at the hospital. \u201cThey were so great,\u201d says Joan. “We really wanted to do something to help the hospital. We said we would even shovel bark,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

It just so happened that their good friend, Joan Campf, had recently donated funds to hire patient advocate Tammy Barr. She suggested the Fergusons contact Tammy and ask her if she needed any help.<\/p>\n

When Tammy met with the Fergusons, she liked them immediately. \u201cThey were perfect,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are so lucky to have them.\u201d The hospital directors agreed to a pilot program with the Fergusons working one day a week, visiting with clients in the small animal hospital lobby.<\/p>\n

In addition to practical help, like tips on where to eat, and walking dogs who are getting cabin fever, the Fergusons provide a sympathetic ear and someone to help pass the time while the pets are in treatment. For those clients whose pets have serious health issues, it is important to be able to share their story. \u201cWe really enjoy visiting with people,\u201d says Joan. \u201cI just ask, \u2018What are they in for?\u2019 and that\u2019s all it takes . . . they let it all out. Then they say, \u2018Thank you so much for listening, it really helped.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While Joan Ferguson is a people-person who focuses on the owners, Terry is a dog lover who spends a lot of time just petting the animals. \u201cYou get to see lots of different dogs and breeds,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was a big German Shepard, Jake, in here who was recovering from back surgery. He had been cooped up for 12 weeks, and was getting a little antsy, and man could he bark. While he was in the [exam] room for his checkup, a gal comes in with this little hound dog that has a citronella [anti-bark] collar. Jake comes out of the room and goes, \u2018Woof, woof, woof\u2019. The other dog didn\u2019t make a sound but Jake triggered the collar. The owner apologized, but I thought it was funny and told her it was okay, it smelled good in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fergusons are careful not to offer any medical information or advice. They know it\u2019s important to let the doctors cover those topics. \u201cWe just listen,\u201d says Terry.<\/p>\n

Although they live in Cottage Grove, they don\u2019t mind the two-hours of drive time every Wednesday. \u201cWe looked forward to it,\u201d says Joan. \u201cWe plan our calendar around Wednesdays. When you love what you are doing, it is easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt surprises me that something this simple can really make a difference. Our reward is that it makes you feel like you are doing something good,\u201d adds Terry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clients who visit the OSU Veterinary Hospital on Wednesdays get a special treat. Volunteers Joan and Terry Ferguson are on hand to greet them, make sure they have a parking pass, and provide other friendly assistance. The Fergusons are former hospital clients who know how stressful it can be when your best friend has a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1802,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3054],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-and-staff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DBMX-2pr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9265"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9269,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9265\/revisions\/9269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofveterinarymedicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}