Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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When the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation opened in Roanoke 10 years ago, Jane Holmgren volunteered to raise the first puppy to be trained for the work.

She agreed to keep a donated golden retriever named Noah and transport him to and from the training sessions and other activities.

After two years, Noah would be sold for a nominal charge to a disabled person.

Unfortunately, Noah didn't do so well.

"We noticed right off the bat that he was a little on the stubborn side," says Pam Scordas, who was the foundation's service dog coordinator back then and is still a part-time trainer.

"He was trainable, but he really liked to do his own thing."

Noah was dropped from the program, and Holmgren was crushed.

She, too, had noticed Noah's quirkiness, but she had hoped it would not become an issue.

Multi-talented canines

Service dogs are not guide dogs for the blind but dogs that assist people young and old, whether they have autism, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis or some other disability (St. Francis also trains hearing dogs).

The dogs perform 100 different functions, from opening doors, retrieving soda cans from refrigerators and fetching phones and TV remotes to helping people dress and barking for assistance in emergencies.

They go everywhere -- on airplanes, through crowds, into hospitals and restaurants, for example -- while ignoring distractions, irritations and worse.

It is noble duty -- but nationally, half of the dogs that enter training drop out (here, the rate is 40 percent).

The cost of training a single dog can reach $15,000.

Holmgren kept Noah. If he had succeeded, she would have given him up.

Still, she was "terribly disappointed."

Niche found

After a while, some friends recommended that Noah train for Pet Pals, a pet therapy program at Carilion Health System. Holmgren agreed to try it.

She knew that, despite his willfulness, Noah loved to be petted and loved children.

When he turned 22 months old, Holmgren took Noah for testing by the Delta Society, the national certification organization for pet therapy work.

Holmgren's enthusiasm for pet therapy led her to become a certified tester for the Delta Society.

"He did pass," she said, "which was just absolutely amazing to me."

Noah has passed re-testing every two years since then.

At least once a month for the past eight years, he has visited children on the 10^th-floor pediatric unit and the fifth-floor cancer treatment area at Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital.

They sniff everyone they visit, climb into bed to be petted and invariably ease pain and lift spirits.

But Noah's stamina is not what it used to be.

Rather than see 10 to 15 kids (and family members and others) on each visit, he grows weary after walking the halls to see as few as four.

He will make his last visit to Community Hospital on Sept. 20.

Longtime friends

Kaley Shoemaker, 6, has undergone leukemia treatment for 18 months and has another year to go. She has petted, played with and talked to Noah several times.

"She loves to see the dogs," says her mother, Jill Shoemaker. "Noah is her favorite."

Susceptible to infections, leukemia patients are discouraged from having dogs at home, the mother said.

Tall and lean because his bloodlines come from field dogs, Noah has a white face that started turning gray when he was three. He is physically strong and immune from the knocks and bumps of the kids as well as the lights, smells and activities of the hospital.

He freely gives love to everyone he encounters.

Holmgren calls his retirement "one of those really sad things, because I love doing this because it means so much to the children.

"On the other hand," she says, I hate to see him make a dive for the elevator when we go by ... because I know he wants to go."

After a shaky start in the helping profession, Noah found his calling.

He will leave it with his duty complete, and the job well done.

Joe Kennedy's column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.