YORKTON – A presentation by St. John Ambulance at the Yorkton Public Library Aug. 28 had some furry friends in attendance.
The purpose of the event was to inform the public about the types of volunteers the organization has and included talks from members of the emergency response unit, medical first responders and owners of therapy dogs.
"That is the big hit tonight," told Shauna Jewhurst, Branch Manager at Yorkton St. John Ambulance, in an interview with SASKTODAY.ca.
Jewhurst said that the Yorkton area has three therapy dog teams.
"They go and visit in the nursing homes. They go to the senior citizens homes. They go to the colleges. They go to the libraries and visit children. Each of them have their own little jurisdictions that they go and visit regularly," said Jewhurst.
"People appreciate them. A lot of times when seniors move off the farm where they've had dogs and now they're living in an apartment or some kind of assisted living they may not be able to have dogs so it's a nice little visit for them," added Jewhurst.
Jewhurst said the dogs are also part of the emergency response team, having been deployed to serious accidents and fire evacuations.
"When people are hurting ... struggling with mental health or anxiety ... then our therapy dogs can be requested to come and do a visit," said Jewhurst.
For more information on volunteering with SJA, visit their website at sja.ca.
