Troupe Member of the Month - Lauren Wellen and Lacey

Lauren has been a member of the PAWSitive Therapy Troupe, a Community Partner of Pet Partners since 2021. She began her therapy career as a member of the PAWS 4 Patients Community Partner group in 2015. Her registered therapy dog and best friend is Lacey, an eight-year-old Miniature Poodle. Lauren and Lacey are weekly visitors on the Pediatrics unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. They also are regular visitors at Shriners Hospital in Chicago and at an early childhood center in Oak Park. Lacey began her therapy career working with children in the Oak Park elementary school system in “Read With Me” programs. Lauren and Lacey have touched so many lives since they began in their career in 2015.

Here is what Lauren has to say about her PAWS 4 Patients and PAWSItive Therapy Troupe experiences:

“Lacey was born in Texas. I asked the breeder for a puppy that had the potential to become a therapy dog and she made a great decision for me! Lacey was raised in a home with her 3 siblings, 2 sisters and a brother and 4 adult dogs. She was quite socialized when she came to my house. We started training the Saturday after she arrived, and she passed puppy class, adult dog class and Canine Good Citizen class. She is also certified as an AKC Novice Trick dog.

Lacey and I have officially been a Pet Partner therapy team for 7 years. The reason I said officially is that Lacey was a puppy in-training when she visited her “grandmother” at Belmont Village Senior Living Center. This is where she learned about being around people and medical equipment. The residents loved to visit with her. She also accompanied me to work, where she learned what it was like to be a therapy dog with my colleagues.

We passed our therapy dog evaluation shortly after Lacey turned one year old. We began our career in “Read With Me” programs at Oak Park Public Elementary Schools.

Since last summer, Lacey and I have been visiting the 4th floor of Loyola Pediatrics weekly. This has become one of our favorite locations to visit. Lacey and I are escorted by the child life specialists as we visit the rooms of patients. We provide therapy to the residents, medical students, and doctors as well as the children. Everyone stops to say hello to us as we walk through the hallways to the rooms. They have been most welcoming! Six years ago we began our hospital visits at Shriners Hospital for Children. We are thankful for these visits as they helped us learn what hospital visiting required and is another place we visit bi-monthly. Since we do like reading with children, we visit an early childhood center, and each summer, we sit outside and read at a home childcare center.

Lacey is a very loving, friendly, and calm dog. When she puts her vest on, she knows that she will be bringing smiles to everyone she visits. In hospitals, since she is a small dog, she can either sit on the bed, or on patients’ laps during her visits. She happily and confidently walks to patient rooms in the hospital or down the hallways to classrooms to provide comfort and support wherever she is needed. 

Therapy work has been an integral part of Lacey’s and my life. We thank PAWSitive Therapy Troupe and Pet Partners for the support and privilege of sharing love through therapy with those in our community through our visits.“

On behalf of all of us in the PAWSitive Therapy Troupe, thank YOU Lauren and Lacey for your dedicated service!