HARFORD COUNTY, Md. — Gunnar Henderson inspires so many people on the field at Camden Yards. Gunnar also helps a lot of people in Harford County, but it may not be the Gunnar Henderson you were thinking of.
Gunnar Henderson the doodle is a therapy dog named after the shortstop for the Orioles.
"So, I rescued Gunnar from a local organization, I went and just thought I was looking for a cool name for him so I thought, you know, you hearTucker, you hear Ray, you hear other names, so I was just kind of like Gunnar Henderson, it is," says Michelle Brusio, Clinical Manager of Population Health for CTO and Primary Care at UM Upper Chesapeake Heath.
Gunnar and his trainer Michelle Brusio have been significantly impacting Harford County by volunteering locally with the nonprofit Paws For People.
"Anything from Paws for Reading, which [is] one of my favorite things to do, we just did that last night. We people at Girl Scouts we meet people in the hospital, we do de-stress events they go to like a local Barnes & Noble for de-stress and book fairs, and things like that. There's a lot of things that they do either in the schools or the nursing homes," says Brusio.
Brusio works at the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health and say its important for her to find different ways to care for others.
"There are many benefits to pet therapy include lowering blood pressure, decreasing stress, depression, loneliness, being able just to have the endorphins flow within your system so they can just have that feel good moments, but also like I got my new favorite is the reading with the kids and encouraging kids to read," says Brusio.
Brusio says the name also helps break the ice when meeting new patients.
"Everybody loves it, [it] is a great way to open up conversation with people talk about baseball or just get people to open up and maybe otherwise we're not open up to talk to you," says Brusio.
She also says anyone who needs a therapeutic visit from Gunnar Henderson or any of his furry friends can request him through the non-profit Paws For People.
