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Collected Item: “St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne masked up therapy dog Macca with hospital Volunteer Services Coordinator”

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St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne masked up therapy dog Macca with hospital Volunteer Services Coordinator

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Photograph

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

Therapy dog Macca lifts the spirits of all whom he encounters and he has proven to be a greater stress reliever for staff working longer and harder due to the pandemic. The true magic of Macca’s contribution has been visible at the bedside. There have been patients who have spoken their first words after surgery while holding Macca and others who have been unable to use their arms who suddenly move to pat him.
In recognition of his work he was crowned "Top dog with a job" from a field of 500 in the inaugural "Oz Top Dog Award" in September 2021. This was welcome good news in a difficult week where there was a surge of cases in Victoria's third wave.
Macca's story attracted diverse media coverage including features in "The Herald Sun", ABC Radio 774 Melbourne and Channel 10 News.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#stvincentshospital, #consolationandcommunity, #healthcare, #media, #pettherapy, #Macca

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Judy Clover

Give this story a date.

2021-09-29
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