When Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care nurse Joni Pirozzolo visits a patient, she sometimes brings along a special friend. Gala, her German shepherd, has been trained as a therapy dog.

Nurse Joni Pirozzolo and her therapy dog, Gala, visit Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care patient Donna Mashanic in December. Donna, who died in January, enjoyed her visits from Gala so much that the dog was asked to attend her funeral.

Joni bought Gala from a breeder last May and has used the dog in her hospice work since last summer. Often, just the presence of a dog like Gala will lift a patient's spirits, Joni said.

"I think what she adds is she brings a smile to these people," Joni said. "(Therapy animals) offer unconditional love. ... It's just the medicine they need, comfort and unconditional love."

Gala made such an impact on Donna Mashanic of Horseheads and her family that she was asked to attend Donna's funeral. Donna died in January after a long illness. She was 65.

Joni was visiting Donna one day when a member of Donna's family noticed Gala in the car. The family asked Joni to bring the dog into the home, and Gala and Donna made an instant connection. Soon, the whole family was looking forwards to Gala's visits.

"I would get out of the car, and they'd be waving their arms and saying 'No, you can't come in. Where's Gala? You can't come in unless you bring her,' " Joni said. "At that point, Donna was in a bedroom in the back of the house, and Gala would go right in there. That was her first stop, to check on Donna. She knew what she was there for."

Joni said Gala's visits gave Donna's family something to focus on beyond her illness. She provided important therapy at the funeral, too, Joni said.

"At the funeral home, with the young people, the teens that have a difficult time talking and discussing things when they're hurting, would come and sit by her and stroke her, and then they would start talking," she said.

Joni said not every patient would be interested in pet therapy.

"Usually what I do is watch to see if I think they are talking about pets or like pets, and I don't see a pet providing some kind of comfort, I suggest it," she said. "A lot of people don't like dogs, and I'd never take her into a home like that."

For information about services offered by Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care, visit www.sthospice.org or call 607/962-4100.