Skip to main content.

WAGtime Volunteer Program 

Does your dog brighten your day? Join WAGtime, and they can brighten patients’ days, too!

WAGtime is Summa Health’s pet visitation program. It allows individuals and their dogs to visit patients and family members within our hospitals.

WAGtime volunteers have a profound impact on the hospital patients they meet, bringing smiles to their faces and helping to lift their spirits. This program enables pet owners to provide services to people in their own community while spending quality time with their dogs.

Meet the WAGtime Volunteers

 

How to Join WAGtime

Summa Health works with Pet Partners as its partner in volunteer registration. We’re always looking for new WAGtime volunteer teams, and we have an easy process to get you started!

Step 1. Prospective WAGtime volunteers must complete a training course (also known as a handler’s course). This does not have to be completed through Pet Partners, but Summa Health does partner with them two provide multiple training opportunities throughout the year, typically in the Spring and Fall.

Pet Partners is offering training course at Summa Health on Saturday, October 7, 2023. 

Register for the training course

Step 2. After receiving your certification for the training course, you must pass a team evaluation. Pet Partners’ certified evaluators will hold an in-person session in which your team will be evaluated on ability to volunteer in a hospital setting. 

Pet Partners will be offering an evaluation course in November. When registration information is available, it will be shared here. 

Step 3. After a team successfully passes its evaluation, they will complete a general volunteer orientation with Summa Health and then can begin visiting with their official WAGtime dog!

If you are interested in becoming a WAGtime volunteer or have any questions about the registration process, please contact Volunteer Services at volunteer@summahealth.org or 330.375.7595 about the next steps.
 

Donate to WAGtime

The WAGtime program is made possible through generous financial donations from our community. These donations support the volunteers and dogs with uniforms, trainings, evaluations, and overall program support. It also helps Summa Health recruit additional volunteers for this important program and recognize the incredible service contributions from our WAGtime volunteers.

If you would like to make a donation to WAGtime, please complete the form below. If you wish to recognize your pet or a current WAGtime volunteer through your donation, please provide this information on the form.

Thank you for supporting this high impact program!

Name:
State:
visa amex discover mastercard
Month:
Help
 

This webpage is secured by reCAPTCHA. View the privacy policy for more information.

[{"RootId":"ba198066-3078-4dcd-8e69-28251bebb940","RootUrl":"/glossary/"}]

Options to Request an Appointment

If your situation is an emergency, call 911.