focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Going to the doctor can be a nerve-racking experience for some.

At one facility in our region, they're trying to ease that.

Megan Frank is here to tell us about a four legged friend who's being used to calm, motivate, even inspire some patients.

I love this, Megan.

It's great to see you.

- You too.

Hi, Britt.

- So this is a four legged friend, so a dog.

And he's bringing a smile to patients' faces.

- Yeah.

So Franklin knows over 40 commands.

So in addition to being a great emotional support, he's actually interacting with them and helping them regain muscle strength and different abilities that they may have lost due to an injury or a long term illness.

- So he's got a lot of work on his plate, not just bringing smiles to faces.

- Oh, yes, when he puts his blue work vest on, he is on the job and he takes his job very seriously.

Franklin spends his workday interacting with patients.

He can do things like play tug-of-war, which is an exercise to help regain balance skills and some muscle skills.

When I caught up with Franklin, I also met patients who say working with him is not only good for rehab, but also good for their spirit.

- It's the best co-worker here, it's the best co-worker.

- St Luke's University Health Network has hired its first ever four legged helper.

His name is Franklin, and he's much more than just a friendly wagging tail around the Physical Therapy Center in Phillipsburg.

- Franklin, give.

Good boy!

- Franklin works with patients on balance, tests their strength and helps them to build cognitive skills.

His handler is occupational therapist Erin Verdon.

- We work together as a team.

We motivate as well as support patients, engaging them in therapy, whether it is physical, cognitive or upper body coordination tasks.

- Verdon was paired with Franklin through Canine Companions, a service dog training group.

- With Franklin, he was affectionate, responsive to commands.

He really loves to engage with people, and I think that shows well, and what physical therapy at St Luke's needed.

- They trained together for two weeks.

- I gained the confidence and assertiveness to be his handler at those two weeks.

I also learned how I am going to mold this dog into being a St Luke's employee.

- Verdon says they were paired because they have similar personality traits, like being caring and patient.

- He definitely is my spirit animal!

- Warren County resident Debbie Esposito comes to St Luke's to exercise just about every day to help manage her Parkinson's disease.

- I find when I work with him that I will stretch as far as I can, whatever the task is, or I might not have given it my all.

With Franklin, you just want to please him in a way!

- In one exercise with Franklin, Verdon instructs patients to take a wide standing position.

Franklin then walks in-between their legs.

- We're working on their balance, but also working on their ability to dual task.

- His weaving is good for me because my dogs walk between my legs all day and I'm constantly balancing myself with them.

So I said, Oh, this is good practice.

- In another exercise, patients are asked to stay in a plank position and Franklin is instructed to go under them.

- Nice work, buddy!

- In the next exercise, Franklin is instructed to jump onto each patient's back as they plank.

- That gives them a little bit of neurofeedback when he's going up, so they had to maintain their balance and increase their core strength.

- Bath resident Kate Hauck says Franklin is a big motivator for her.

She received a Parkinson's diagnosis in 2018 and attends physical therapy to manage her symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.

- He's such a motivating force.

Sometimes my attention and my dedication might flag a little bit because I'm on a lifetime appointment going through this.

He's a social bridge.

He's supportive, he's unconditionally supportive, as dogs are.

- When Franklin plays tug-of-war with patients, the goal is to help them to build their strength and balance.

- Playing tug-of-war with Franklin helps in stability issues for being able to stand and maintain my balance, which is an issue with a stroke victim.

- Phillipsburg Area resident Edward Bair recently suffered a stroke.

He says the exercises with Franklin are helping him to rebuild strength on his left side.

- He brings some different aspects that I can't do on my own, like fetching and giving and taking and holding, and the pulling.

It brings a whole different perspective to some of the simple moves that you want to do.

- Right now, Franklin knows more than 40 commands, and he'll learn even more over time.

- He just loves to work, and he loves to learn new commands.

- He's even able to help patients rebuild cognitive skills.

Verdon explained how the honey bee task works to rebuild memory loss.

- Good boy!

With that exercise, the patient has to remember the commands as well as the sequencing of the commands.

It's making it more engaging and fun.

- Verdon has high hopes for Franklin's work at St Luke's.

- All of my patients are going through life altering events, whether or not it's Parkinson's, stroke, brain injury, so hoping that it motivates them for therapy and also brightens their day.

- And so far, Franklin's work seems to be paying off.

- Franklin brings unconditional love.

Everybody he sees, he just comes in and he'll wag his tail.

You know, he'll just do whatever he wants to do, and he's very sensitive to everything that Erin says.

He's really a partner.

- He's a bridge.

He's literally a bridge to engaging in my surroundings, because I'm not just thinking about where my feet are and all that, I'm thinking about him.

- He brightens the day.

You know, you do come, you do have fun, but there's that extra little spark from Franklin that makes it well worthwhile.

- Franklin is from Canine Companions, which breeds service dogs and trains them.

Franklin received six months of training from the Northeast Regional Training Center on Long Island, and he was paired with his handler, Erin, right after his training.

- Now, Megan, are these dogs just specifically used in medical facilities or throughout the community?

- There are actually four different types of service dogs, so some are for veterans, for emotional support, and some are for people with disabilities, and some are for people with loss of sight or hearing.

- Gotcha.

So a wide variety of different ailments people can use these dogs for.

If someone's interested in this, how can they get more information?

- So anybody can apply for a service dog.

You just have to meet certain criteria and be able to fill out the form of what kind of dog you're looking for.

And the website for that is canine.org.

- Now, is this his first job?

Or has he been at this for a while?

- This is Franklin's first gig.

- Oh, well, he's doing pretty well for himself.

- I think so too.

- He's got a long career in front of him.

- I think so.

- All right, Megan Frank, as always, thank you so much.

- Thanks, Britt.

- And that'll do it for this edition of Living In The Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.