Award for Chris Handy, Mollie Brown & Harper Brown
2012 Recipient
Volunteer of the Year
presented by the
Mayor's Council for Persons with a Disability
Chris Handy is a volunteer/handler for therapy dogs Mollie Brown and Harper Brown. In 2007 Chris and Mollie Brown began providing Animal Assisted Activity/Therapy (AAA/T) to patients and their caregivers on the Inpatient Rehabilitation and Acquired Brain Injury programs in the Sticht Center. Harper Brown was added to the program in 2010.
With the AAA/T program, Chris has volunteered for more than 800 hours to Wake Forest Baptist Health patients and their caregivers. We admire and respect Chris's desire to contribute to the rehabilitation for persons with a disability.
Chris uses creativity and innovation with Mollie and Harper as they interact with patients. During the holidays, Mollie and Harper delivered Holiday cards to all the patients on the units using a backpack! Chris effectively blends personal goals with the patient's rehab goals such as increasing awareness of physical function and opportunities to increase cognitive skills with reminiscing techniques.
We are very proud of Chris, Mollie & Harper and congratulate them on receiving this prestigious award.