Animal Visitation & Therapy Program Associate - PRN

This is a PRN position that will be covering evening and weekends. Children's National is seeking an innovative, dynamic and highly organized individual to assist in the expansion, ongoing development and maintenance of Animal Visitation & Therapy programs in the Child Life and Integrative Care department. The Animal Assisted Intervention Specialist will work with the Animal Visitation and Therapy Program Coordinator to maintain, implement, and execute Animal Assisted Intervention services at Children's National, keeping focus on performance standards that achieve departmental goals. The Specialist will be responsible for the daily coordination of volunteer animal visitation while also supporting the expansion of Children's National facility dog initiatives. Will ensure compliance with regulatory standards and Children's National policies, while implementing new strategies to provide a safe, therapeutic and robust Animal Visitation & Therapy program. Minimum Education Bachelor's Degree Psychology, Behavioral Science and Health, Child Life, Social Work or related field. (Required) Or Master's Degree Psychology, Behavioral Science and Health, Child Life, Social Work or related field (Preferred) Minimum Work Experience 1 year Related experience with children and adolescents, preferably in a health care environment. (Required) Required Skills/Knowledge Excellent communication, training, and organizational skills required. Ability to comfortably work with internal and external customers from diverse social, cultural and educational backgrounds. Ability to listen, be empathetic, motivate and follow-through. Ability to identify and work collaboratively with diverse teams in a complex environment. Flexibility and ability to work on weekends and off-hour shifts. Experience working with children, adolescents and young adults Current owner of a facility dog trained and evaluated to provide animal assisted interventions in a complex care environment. If not, willing to become an owner of a trained facility dog within first year of hire. Required Licenses and Certifications Professionally licensed within chosen field (Preferred) Certified Animal Assisted Intervention Specialist (C-AAIS) 1 Year (Required) Functional Accountabilities Animal Visitation Programs

• Responsible for assisting in the daily coordination of the volunteer animal visitation program.
• Orients and trains new animal visitation program volunteers to ensure a robust and healthy animal visitation program.
• Coordinates schedules and adjusts duration of animal visitation to accommodate patient volumes and referral requests.
• Prioritizes patient referrals for animal visitation after ensuring required documentation and physician consents obtained.
• Regularly shadows animal visitation volunteers to ensure compliance with established policies and procedures.
• Clearly communicates program expectations and goals to animal visitation volunteers, providing regular and consistent feedback on individual performance and participation in animal visitation program.
• Models appropriate interactions with various patient populations for animal visitation volunteers to support optimal patient and dog engagement.
• Monitors and maintains daily visitation log for statistics and infection control tracking purposes.
• Ensures adherence to infection control and safety protocols by animal visitation volunteers in compliance with Animal Visitation & Therapy program policies and procedures.

Facility Dog Management

• Assists in the care, safety, and well being of CNH facility dogs during the scheduled work day.
• Ensures facility dogs follow grooming and veterinary protocols as established by Animal Visitation & Therapy program policies and procedures.
• Maintains and reinforces the proper training and behavior expectations of CNH facility dogs.
• Engages in animal assisted interventions with pediatric inpatient and outpatient populations when appropriate.

Performance Improvement

• Recognizes opportunities to improve Animal Assisted Intervention program
• Collects metrics to evaluate animal visitation & therapy program outcomes, goals and stakeholder satisfaction
• Participates in animal visitation & therapy program research.

Organizational Accountabilities Organizational Accountabilities (Staff) Organizational Commitment/Identification

• Anticipate and responds to customer needs; follows up until needs are met

Teamwork/Communication

• Demonstrate collaborative and respectful behavior
• Partner with all team members to achieve goals
• Receptive to others' ideas and opinions

Performance Improvement/Problem-solving

• Contribute to a positive work environment
• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to change
• Identify opportunities to improve clinical and administrative processes
• Make appropriate decisions, using sound judgment

Cost Management/Financial Responsibility

• Use resources efficiently
• Search for less costly ways of doing things

Safety

• Speak up when team members appear to exhibit unsafe behavior or performance
• Continuously validate and verify information needed for decision making or documentation
• Stop in the face of uncertainty and takes time to resolve the situation
• Demonstrate accurate, clear and timely verbal and written communication
• Actively promote safety for patients, families, visitors and co-workers
• Attend carefully to important details - practicing Stop, Think, Act and Review in order to self-check behavior and performance

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