The dog Kia and the school in the hospital, Zoe’s story told by Meyer of Florence

The hospitalized girl becomes friends with the dog Kia, from the pet therapy team, and her class mobilizes to be close to her

FLORENCE – A mix of friendship, teamwork and great humanity. It is the story of Zoe, an eight-year-old girl and Kia, a dog from the pet therapy team working at the Meyer in Florence, where the little girl was hospitalized a few weeks ago with a complex neurological condition. The little girl, who had temporarily suffered a significant decrease in her visual ability, formed a deep friendship with the dog who, day after day, until her resignation, visited her to help her in times of difficulty.

ZOE WAS ABLE TO CONTINUE SCHOOL IN HOSPITAL

But it doesn’t end here. Once the critical phase was over, Zoewas able to continue school – the second year of primary school – thanks to the ‘school in hospital’ project active at the pediatric school. And here, thanks to a virtuous “bridge” created by the teachers (those of the school of origin, the Don Milani of Casinalbo in the province of Modena, in tandem with the teacher Susy del Meyer), the her classmates: they were able to get to know Kia through video calls, photos, the descriptions made by the little girl, and made her the protagonist of their lessons and their days at school. Themes, drawings, stories, even a small digital bookcomposed together with another hospitalized girl: the friendship between Zoe and Kia entered the classroom, taking Meyer out of Meyer.

During the month spent at Meyer, Zoe – who is now better thanks to treatment and rehabilitation– never stopped being in contact with her classmates, listening to the readings of their stories every day on Kia. In this way the little girl, who arrived at Meyer for her first hospitalization experience, was able to experience the long stay in a positive way and her companions got to know another aspect of the hospital: a place of care that however does not leave out beauty , friendship and everything you need to feel a little at home.

“It was a really difficult test, we experienced moments of fear and great uncertainty, but from the first moment it was clear to us that we were in the best place for Zoe”, he says the mother. “The indisputable competence of the medical team that followed Zoe, without neglecting the staff of nurses who were exceptional to say the least, is combined with the fact that we were taken by the hand by many figures who accompanied us along the path, making it less difficult, giving it a different face”. Despite everything, “we bring home a beautiful story, because its plot is made up of faces and people who every day, as teacher Susy told me at our first meeting, ‘do the circle’ around the child. Everyone does their part to take care, in its broadest sense, and in our experience it was exactly like that.”

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