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Miami Arts Studio senior Isabella Garcia visits Nicklaus Children’s Hospital once a week with Gator, her therapy dog. She trained and certified her mini Goldendoodle Gator through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs.
“With Community PAWS – we’re trying to spread hope, support and companionship through animal assisted therapy,” she says.
She joined the animal therapy team at Nicklaus five or six months ago.
“Aside from the hospital we go to the Palace,” she says. “We work with the Alzheimer’s therapy group. We’ve gone to elementary schools.”
In April, she went to Southwood Middle School with Gator. It was a special visit since she attended Southwood as a theater student. Her father was also principal at the time.
“We went to different teacher rooms,” she says. “It was Take Your Child to Work Day. There was a group of staff kids that we went and saw. We went, did our things, and we did a bunch of tricks. We saw a lot of teachers.”
Gator has also been a star at elementary school visits.
“After school they had a reading club with a teacher. We did a Reading with Gator session.
We all sat in a circle and Gator was with me. The kids took turns reading aloud to Gator. We gave them treats and they all got to pet Gator and take photos with Gator.”
They started training Gator in October 2023 but not his sibling, Cooper.
“Gator is special,” she says. “Cooper and Gator are brothers. We got two different kinds of personalities.”
Garcia is enthusiastic about helping others and she is passionate about going into medicine.
“I was an intern at Baptist through the Summer Youth Intern Program,” she says. “We were in the Oncology Unit. I was doing arts and crafts with the group.”
Part of her internship consisted of talking about the importance of dental hygiene. The second part was doing arts and crafts with the patients.
“They really liked it,” she says. “It was fun. They were all a little bit older. There was a hospice patient, and we were able to go into her room. We painted two rocks for her. We talked to her family. It was an impactful moment.”
She is interested in going into medicine because when she was younger, she was hospitalized at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
“I found out that animal therapy was a thing, and I wanted to do that. I wanted to work with kids.”
At school, Garcia is a member of the National Science Honor Society. She’s joining the newly added HOSA Club because the club focuses on the medical field.
“They have a program where you can get certified in different things and a science fair type event,” she says. “I’m interested in that.”
Another science/medicine-based club she’s in is the Health and Bio Informatics Club.
She’s also a member of the National Society of High School Scholars.
She’s a theater student so she’s a member of the National Thespians Honor Society. Her theater work is primarily on the technical side although she does appear on stage in some shows.
“In high school I’ve been in three Class Clash shows. I have staged managed two Showcases, the pieces going to state competition. I did the sound and lights for Miscast – you swap genders. The girls would sing a song from Grease.”
She’s already qualified to receive a Bright Futures Scholarship and the Gifted Honor Student Scholarship.
Her college list includes Florida International University. the University of Miami and Miami-Dade Honors College.
“I’m not sure if I want to go to medical school or nursing school,” she says.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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