By Taylor MacPherson

K9 officers visit kids at Victoria Hospital

Dec 18, 2017 | 4:00 PM

Members of Saskatchewan’s law enforcement K9 units visited sick children at Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital Monday afternoon, and brought along one of the city’s most famous officers – Police Service Dog Daxa.

Daxa and her handler Const. Kelsey Bighetty visited children in the hospital’s pediatric ward, accompanied by other K9 officers from the Prince Albert Police Service and other Saskatchewan agencies. The kids had a chance to pet Daxa and learn about the valuable role police dogs play in law enforcement. After the visits the children were left with their own stuffed police dogs to take home.

“Everyone knows it’s hard to spend time in the hospital,” Bighetty said. “Our goal is just to get a smile and spread some Christmas cheer with the police dogs.”

The K9 Cops for Kids program has been running since 2012, Bighetty said, and it’s been a big success every year. The officers enjoy the event just as much as the kids and it always leaves him with a big smile as well.

“You can tell that we made their day here at the hospital,” he said.

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Jane Antoine, pediatric nursing unit manager, said it’s never easy to spend Christmas in a hospital, especially for young children.

“It’s rough to be in hospital any time, but especially this time of year,” she said. “They’re missing the concerts or the play-dates or the gifts or their friends.”

Antoine said the K9 officers always cheer up the entire ward during their annual visits, which means a lot to the children and to their families. Even the staff look forward to working on “Police Dog Day,” she added with a laugh.

Michael Bowden said his 10-year-old son Ping was thrilled by the visit from Daxa. Bowden said hospital stays can get boring quickly, especially for young children, so Ping was excited to meet Daxa and the other officers.

“There’s not a lot to do in a hospital except rest and get better,” he said. “It was a good surprise, definitely.”

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews