If you have a scout, school or other group that would enjoy an educational and interactive visit behind the scenes at the hospital, we would be delighted to offer your group a tour. 

We love our profession and we love kids. Showing kids what we do and maybe inspiring them a little bit is fun for us! Our "tour" is actually a one-hour mock exam, diagnostic plan and surgery! With young children, we use a stuffed animal as our patient and with older children, we use one of our very reliable staff pets. We call in all our senior staff members for double shifts so we have plenty of experienced and knpwledgeable staff members on hand to give your children the best experience possible. We are happy to provide a tour for your group. Just let us know what your needs are and we will find a time that works. 

We start the tour by inviting the children to draw us a picture for our Young Artist's Gallery and to get dressed in our doctor lab coats and nurse scrub tops.

Once they are settled in and ready, one child takes the stuffed pet as their own and a receptionist (Kim in this photo) helps them check the pet in to the hospital. They describe their dog's stomach ache and "not doing right" symptoms.

The nurse takes the patient and tour back to an exam room where he is examined and "real" blood is drawn for blood testing. Then Dr. Zucker does an ultrasound on the dog and examines his internal organs. 

Next is a series of x-rays that reveal a foreign body in the stomach (what it is will remain a surprise until you come on a tour).

Surgery removes the foreign body and the dog is put into recovery where, of course, he recovers quickly and completely!

With children over about 10 years old, we use a real dog (a reliable and good hearted staff volunteer pet) for the mock-hospitalization instead of a stuffed animal and we perform an actual exam and blood draw and even look at her heart beating and other internal organs with the ultrasound.

Throughout every tour, our most knowledgable staff provide age-appropriate information and answer all questions. Children are invited to touch and try out equipment within safety guidelines. They also get time to visit with our African grey parrot, fido, and with any adoptive pets we have in the hospital.

Everyone gets Clifford books and other goodies to take home to remember us by. We know we'll remember them!