praat history...
Dr Dave Hensen and
his wife, Dr. Dee Hensen began their veterinary practice approximately
17 years ago. Shortly after they opened their doors, Dr. Dave began
seeking a charitable organization to join, which ended up being the
Patchogue Rotary Club.
Through Rotary, he organized what started out to be a community
service project and eventually became it's own not-for-profit
organization, Patchogue Rotary Animal Assisted Therapy was officially
begun in 1993.
Dr Dave's intent was to introduce pet therapy to the local nursing homes in
the Patchogue area and enable dog owners to share their dogs with
people who would enjoy visits from them and provide them with an
opportunity to give back to the community. The first facility we
served was the Brookhaven Towne House for Adults.
Since that time, the program has grown to the point that we have visited over thirty different
healthcare facilities throughout Suffolk County, with over two hundred volunteers and their dogs. We are
now trying to expand the program to involve all of Rotary district
7260 (Suffolk County).
PRAAT carries
liability insurance which protects our volunteers in the event of a
accident during a visit. We have never had to file a claim for an
accident and hope to keep it this way. One of the reasons we have
been able to maintain a clean record is because of our strict
selection and screening of dogs.
