This 3-year-old golden doodle named Professor Bunsen Honeydew has a 9 to 5 job at Mount Sinai’s children’s hospital where he has his very own business cards — here’s what his day is like

In fact, in the 1.5 years he's been working at Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's hospital, he has become a VIP employee.

Professor, whose full name is Professor Bunsen Honeydew, is a 3-year-old golden doodle and the first of the two facility dogs to arrive at Kravis. A three year grant of $350,000 from PetSmart Charities covers everything from veterinary care, grooming, food, trainers, Ubers, and the salary of the certified child life specialist he's paired with.

Shortly after he arrived in March 2017, the hospital realized that one dog wasn't going to be enough. So they procured Amos, another golden doodle, shortly afterwards. They're both part of the Paws and Play program in Karvis' C

Before the golden doodle duo arrived at Mount Sinai, there was a pet assisted therapy program in place. It serves as a completely separate program from the facility dog program and is run through the volunteer department at Mount Sinai.

Richard Schack, 65, has volunteered with his schnoodle Leia at Mount Sinai's Union Square location for over 8 years. He was part of a study funded by Pfizer Animal Health in 2015 that showed the positive effects therapy dogs had on patients' emotional and social well being.

"You made my day, Leia," 65-year-old patient Yolanda Fajardo said as she scooped the tiny dog onto her lap. Fajardo loves getting visits from Leia while she's waiting to receive cancer treatment. "I took a picture of Leia, and someone asked if she was my dog and I said yes, basically."

Leia is certified and insured by the Good Dog Foundation, and to ensure that she's clean and safe for patients, she gets a bath the night before visiting the hospital.

Schack and Leia visit every Wednesday for a couple of hours, during which they make rounds in the radiology waiting room, chemotherapy suite, and administrative staff offices. During these years, Leia has become a fabric of the staff, and her presence has made such an impact that some patients have changed their treatment schedules just so they can see her, said Alison Snow, assistant director of cancer supportive services at Mount Sinai Union Square. Mount Sinai has their own health clearance and screening process, and volunteering is a huge commitment that don't always fit with most schedules.

The facility dog program was instated as a way to create more consistency and cohesion, especially with younger patients, so the benefits of interacting with them could be maximized. Unlike volunteer therapy dogs, facility dogs are workers first, pets second.

"They carry business cards, they have a badge," Rode said. "They're going to rooms where there's been a referral request, with a specific goal."

Facility dogs like Professor and Amos are embedded into personalized treatment and recovery plans for patients and families at Kravis. All the doctors at Kravis carry with them a referral card for the services of Professor and Amos. They can provide procedural support, comfort and pain management, encouragement to walk, play opportunities, and family support.

These are all humanizing things that for a child who has been depressed and disempowered by trauma and illness, said Rode. Small things like this can really relocate a position of control and power for them.

The dogs have also been trained practically to respond to quick signals like getting off the bed in the event of a medical emergency.

Professor loves Mondays. He mainly works in the outpatient hematology and oncology clinic. Child life specialist Ali Spike is his primary handler, and he goes home with her after work.

Amos, whose shift starts later than Professor's, works primarily in inpatient units. His hours are 10am to 6pm everyday.

Amos lives with one of the department's TV producers, and gets handed off to a child life specialist after getting to the hospital.

Before entering the hematology outpatient suite, Professor gets wiped down. Spike carries hand sanitizer with her and gives it to people before she lets them pet Professor in an effort to stop the transmission of germs to immunocompromised patients.

"Professor's up to date with all of his flu shots, it keeps track on his badge," she said. Dogs need canine flu shots more often and it's

Zakyra Williams, 7, comes with her mom Andrea every week to do a white blood cell count check. Her whole face lit up as she saw Professor sauntering down the hall, and she immediately rushed to greet him.

Today morning, Zakyra is the one of the only patients in the playroom, so Spike let Professor off the leash so he can play fetch with her.

Zakyra is getting her flu shot today, and Professor is sitting with her to help distract her from the pain.

12-year-old Japheth Martinez-Alvarez comes in for cancer care fairly frequently. He’s built up a close bond with Professor and occasionally teases him by fake throwing the ball.

As Zakyra finished her checkup and got ready to leave, Spike took a Polaroid picture of her and Professor. After enduring something distressing like getting shots or getting blood drawn, Spike has found that waiting for a Polaroid picture to develop usually take childrens' minds off the pain they're experiencing.

On days when patients aren’t seeing Professor, they get video messages from him and can write letters to him. Spike and the other child specialists and caregivers try to find new ways to help patients be more engaged.

“Sometimes Professor knows who needs him before I do,” Spike said.

Spike recounts many instances where they'll be walking down a hallway, and he'll approach a doctor or a patient or a parent, and they'll tell her that interacting with him made their day. Sometimes she can guide him into a room full of patients, and he'll selectively go around or go up to a specific patient, and they'll tell her that they really needed it at that moment.

Dogs' heightened form of empathy make them the ideal tool for neutralizing intense feelings of sadness, anger, and pain, even if patients aren't displaying it openly.

Merceda Devoe, 29, is a special case. She has a pediatric type of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, so instead of being placed with adult cancer patients, she’s treated in the pediatric wing.

She’s staying in a room with a stretcher, usually intended for patients who want to rest or sleep, have a longer stay, or want isolation.

"One thing that we've really seen come out of Paws and Play is how much the staff depend on Professor and Amos," said Stojanowski.

On his off-days, you'll find Professor in the park, running through leaves and chasing squirrels.

This 3-year-old golden doodle named Professor Bunsen Honeydew has a 9 to 5 job at Mount Sinai’s children’s hospital where he has his very own business cards — here’s what his day is like

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