Puppies in University Hall and bunnies in the library— these furry creatures are brought to GMercyU by Pals For Life.
Pals for Life, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing therapy animals to communities in the Delaware Valley area including elder care facilities and colleges. Pals For Life visited on GMercyU’s campus at the end of the fall 2024 semester and the beginning of the spring 2025 semester.
“One of the great things about pet therapy . . . It’s one of those rare mutually beneficial things.” Kristen Abbott, the program director for Pals For Life, explains, “Part of it is biochemical when you pet an animal, your brain makes oxytocin. Oxytocin is this hormone your brain just makes naturally, and it lowers your stress hormones…not only are you producing it from petting the dog, but the dog is also producing it.”
Andrew Harbaugh, GMercyU coordinator of student engagement, recounts how he found out about Pals For Life’s involvement at GMercyU. “We actually found out when they came to campus the first time last semester that they’ve been a part of Gwynedd for over 10 years through the nursing program, but we at student engagement haven’t worked with them until fall 2024”.
The Pals For Life event was meant to serve a different purpose than most events on campus. “We wanted to do an event where people could just relax” Harbaugh contrasted this with GMercyU’s usual events, “…students have to do things or they have to buy into something. This is just an event where you can just relax and be as is.”
Even though animals benefit from human interaction, that doesn’t mean every animal is right for the job. Pals For Life utilizes a testing process using medical equipment to monitor the animal as they go through various scenarios they may encounter.
But not every animal can handle the testing process, according to Abbott, “It’s not fair to take a dog and throw them into a nursing home or a hospital without knowing if they can handle it. So it’s a small, kind of enclosed, safe space where all these scenarios happen, and if the dog can’t handle it, we can just stop right away and be like, okay, they’re not quite ready yet.”
Pals For Life continues to accept new pets into their program, and while they currently only have dogs and bunnies, they have previously involved a wide variety of animals. Abbott has worked with cats, guinea pigs, bearded dragons, miniature horses, and even goats. On their website, they provide further resources to learn more about therapy animals.
