Charisma. Star power. Animal magnetism. Whatever you want to call it, Falko has it. When he walks down the halls of Temple University Hospital-Main Campus, all eyes are on him—and not just because he’s an 85-lb German Shepherd.
After all, Falko isn’t only a dog: he’s also a member of the Temple University Police, serving alongside his human partner, Officer Jesse Camponelli. And for the past year, he’s been visiting the hospital to meet with nurses, doctors, and patients to give them a break from their busy schedules and provide emotional support.
“It all started when I came to Main Campus to check on a patient that I had helped drop off,” Officer Camponelli says. “As I was talking to a nurse, she saw the patch on my back that says Police K9 Unit. She asked if I had a dog, and whether she could meet him, and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ I brought Falko out, and the next thing you know, every nurse and doctor on the floor flocked to us. The ones who looked stressed out would see him, and they would just light up. They would come running over and start giving Falko some pets, and when they left to go check on their patients, I would watch them walk into their patients’ rooms with huge smiles on their faces. I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve gotta do this more often.’”
Ever since then, Officer Camponelli has tried to bring Falko to TUH-Main Campus once or twice a month. “People are just ecstatic when they see him,” he says. “There are some staff members who you can tell prefer cats over dogs, and they just keep on walking, and that’s fine. But I think it really makes a positive impact on people’s mood.”
Kevin Desrochers, MSN, RN, AVP of Emergency Department Nursing Operations, agrees. “The Emergency Department can be a high-stress area, and when Falko comes through, he really helps our team members decompress,” he says. “Our nurses get to roll around on the floor and pet him, and it just makes everybody super happy.”
“Whether it’s a good day or a bad day, we love seeing Falko,” says Dara Delcollo, MSN, RN, who works as a nurse in the ED. “He brightens up our days for us.”
Man’s—and Patients’—Best Friend
Officer Camponelli’s wife, Sarah Camponelli, MSN, BSN, RN, has been a Temple nurse for a decade. She currently works in Gastroenterology, but was previously in the Surgical ICU (SICU), where her colleagues and their patients loved their regular visits from Falko.
“I remember we had one trauma patient who was really banged up: he had chest tubes and everything,” she recalls. “But he insisted on seeing Falko. Even though we were saying, ‘Well, we have to be careful with the chest tubes,’ he kept telling us, ‘I don’t care! Give me treats!’ So we actually have a photo of Falko near the bed, putting his paws on it, and the patient feeding him treats.”
This isn’t the only time that Falko has lifted the spirits of a patient in need. “When my mother-in-law went into hospice, Falko came to visit her and put his paws on the bed,” Desrochers shares. “It was the first time we’d seen her smile in a really long time. It was really meaningful for my wife and my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law.”
It isn’t a surprise, then, that Falko is in high demand around the hospital. But when he’s off the clock, he lives the life of a regular dog—albeit one with a very loving family. “Everywhere I go, he goes,” Officer Camponelli says. “Our family goes hiking a lot, and he comes with us. I bought a canoe just so he can go out there with me. He has his own special bed.”
But when the time comes to report for duty, Falko is right there by his side—and for Officer Camponelli, that’s the most rewarding part of his job. “I get to go to work with my best friend,” he says.