Children get splash of dolphin therapy
Patients connect with creatures in Fla. program
KEY LARGO, Fla.-- The first day back from a vacation in Florida, 10-year-old Robbie Marcus of Brookline, Mass., woke up and got dressed, made his bed, and then went to the kitchen, where he told his mom he was ready for school.
''That has never happened before," said Robbie's father, Paul Marcus, a Boston-area developer. ''It's usually a daily struggle."
Robbie has cerebral palsy, which has caused semi-paralysis in his right side. He has other issues from brain damage that he suffered at birth, including memory and learning problems.
Marcus credits Robbie's newfound enthusiasm to the time he spent in a dolphin therapy program in the Florida Keys. Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo serves more than 1,000 children each year.
The program is filled with children with physical and mental health problems. Patients with terminal cancer, diabetes, immune deficiency disorders, cardiac problems, and autism participate.
''A lot of neurological and brain damage issues are very similar to issues with autistic children and people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," Marcus said.
These problems can lead to low self-esteem, depression, and behavioral problems in the children, he said.
The nonprofit program was founded by Deena Hoagland, whose son Joe was born in 1986 missing the wall between the two lower chambers of his heart. During his third surgery at age 3, Joe suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed and visually impaired. He has since completely recovered.
With a background in education and clinical social work, Hoagland struggled to find something that would help her son after moving to the Florida Keys from Palm Beach in 1990. ''I saw an ad for Dolphins Plus in a local paper that offered a discount to locals," she said of the for-profit profit program that operates from the same facility. ''I called thinking that maybe I could get Joe in the water and maybe that would help him."
The owner said to come over sometime; Hoagland showed up that very day. She took a bucket of bait to a dock where the dolphins are confined in a canal, and a dolphin named Fonzie came right up to Hoagland and her son.
''Joe giggled for the first time in months," she said. ''I started bawling like a baby."
Hoagland thought this type of experience would help other children with disabilities. Soon after, she founded Island Dolphin Care, and her part-time venture turned into a full-time job in 1996. And while Hoagland cannot heal the children's bodies, she said the program helps heal their spirits. ''The greatest gift is an increase in self-esteem," she said.
A child's entire family becomes involved during the five-day sessions, and nearly 300 children participate in classroom and water sessions from March to November.
''How they are able to deal with their own issues will dramatically improve how they feel about themselves," he said. Robbie also rides horses a couple of times a week, and Marcus said that has made ''a dramatic improvement in his life."
He said such activities as horseback riding and the dolphin program combine physical therapy with learning and exercises that build self-esteem. Classroom work includes learning about dolphins and their environment as well as art projects.
While in the water for the dolphin program, Robbie had to balance himself and work muscles that he would have exercised in a regular physical therapy session. Hanging out in the water with a dolphin was a big plus.
''My son was totally drained at the end of the day," Marcus said. ''He did many hard things for a kid with muscular issues."
Marcus thinks the animals and the children share a connection. ''It has an impact that isn't quantifiable yet," he said. ''I don't know that we will know about those things for a long while."
These activities are not inexpensive; the five-day session at Dolphin Island Care cost $2,200, Marcus said. But as president of the Davis Companies, a commercial real estate development firm, Marcus said he can and will do anything to help his son. He also raises money to provide scholarships for children whose families cannot afford to pay.
Marcus also serves on the board of trustees of Boston Children's Hospital and is founder of the Philanthropic Leadership Council for the Developmental Medicine Center at Children's Hospital. And he is on the visiting committee of MIT's Brain and Cognitive Science Center.
Hoagland said she is committed to running the program as long as the dolphins are in good health. She has permits for the three captive dolphins, which cannot live in the wild, and has committed to lifetime care. 