Man’s Best Friend…May just be a Monkey

Disability and patient need are established and verified.
Then—following verification—specialists are sent to the home to assess the patient’s needs, lifestyle and home to ensure a perfect match.

By all accounts, it sounds like routine HME house call…until you factor in the monkey.

“There are no Medicare codes for monkeys,” laughed monkey trainer Alison Payne, noting the obvious differences between her organization, Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, and what could be referred to as “more traditional” HME suppliers.

For 7 years now, Payne, director of training for Helping Hands, has aided the organization in providing quality of life enhancements for complex rehab patients. But, unlike the traditional HME complex rehab offerings, the “enhancements” Payne and her Helping Hands team provide don’t run on batteries or electricity.

They don’t run on bananas either.

“Our monkeys learn through positive reinforcement,” Payne explained. “When they learn a new skill or complete a skill correctly, they are praised enthusiastically and given a lick of peanut butter.”

Established nearly 30 years ago as the brainchild of behavioral psychologist MJ Willard and occupational therapist Judi Zazula, Helping Hands is a Boston-based, non-profit organization that raises and trains South American capuchin monkeys to assist quadriplegics and other patients with spinal cord injuries. The monkeys are bred in the United States, trained for three years at “monkey college” and then placed with patients who meet a “monkey match”—patients like California C5 Craig Cook.

Once active in a myriad of sports, Cook was paralyzed in an automobile accident 12 years ago. Cook’s condition left him feeling completely dependant, helpless and alone. But all of that changed once Minnie arrived.

So named because of her tiny size, Minnie, the 25-year-old capuchin with a 30-word vocabulary, has become an invaluable helpmate for Cook—opening his mail, disposing of trash, turning on lights, grabbing the phone, fetching and preparing snacks and beverages and reaching objects in high places. Minnie can even operate the microwave.

According to Payne, Minnie’s daily activities are just a few of many that Helping Hands monkeys are trained for.

“We teach them to do anything that would help someone with a mobility problem,” she explained. “We teach things like how to operate a CD player and how to scratch for itches. And if a person’s hand or foot falls off [of his or her wheelchair] from a spasm, the monkeys are trained to reposition it on the wheelchair.”

With her many skills and dexterous hands, Minnie is an invaluable asset to Cook and his sense of independence.

“I did everything in my power to try to get my independence back. Minnie is a part of that,” Cook says. “Her hands take the place of my hands and that’s huge in a quadriplegic’s life. She allows me to stay at home alone longer than I ever could before. And my sense of security is enhanced. It just gives me a little bit of dignity.”

But the most important role Minnie fills, Cook says, is her role as a friend.

“Minnie alleviates the pain,” he explains. “I don’t concentrate on the fact that I am in a wheelchair anymore. That’s secondary now. The companionship takes your focus. The camaraderie she brings—she’ll get you out of your funk! I beam from ear to ear when I’m with her.”

Cook is one of more than 120 patients who have benefited through the Helping Hands program, which, according to Payne, includes more than 190 monkeys. Payne said about 30 monkeys are currently completing their monkey college training. Once training is complete, the monkeys will be placed—at no cost to patients—in suitable homes, where they will receive free food and support from Helping Hands for the duration of their placement.

Cost of care averages $35,000 over the life of the monkey. Helping Hands is funded entirely through grants and donations and services are provided at no cost to recipient patients. To learn more about Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, visit the Web site at http://www.monkeyhelpers.org.