One of the most beloved staff members at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore is not a doctor, nurse or other longtime employee — it’s a 3-year-old black lab named Polly, who makes her rounds every day, bringing comfort to patients.
Polly has been stationed at the hospital for two years, providing a listening ear and companionship as young patients navigate the most difficult times of their lives.
Polly is a trained therapy dog with the Pups Assisting With Support (PAWS) program run by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
On Sept. 1, the organization awarded Montefiore a grant of $10,000 to help cover Polly’s grooming, transportation costs and since the dog is something of a hospital celebrity — plans are underway to create Polly merch, such as stuffed toys and stickers.
For 22-year-old Kevin Martinez of Yonkers, Montefiore staff and Polly have become his second family as he’s battled leukemia for the past four years.
Polly is a fixture in Martinez’s life, especially since he has a Siberian Husky named Athena at home, and often misses her during his many hospital stays.
With Polly around, “It’s like I have my dog again,” Martinez said. “She’s funny, she’s adorable.”
Before being diagnosed in December 2021, Martinez was a healthy, active high school graduate who worked as a restaurant busboy and enlisted in the Marines. But while awaiting his assignment for boot camp, he began having body pain that eventually got so severe, he had to call his own ambulance.
Martinez assumed he had a bad flu or virus that would be fine after a quick hospital visit. But his world was turned upside down when Montefiore doctors told him he had cancer.
To make matters worse, Martinez soon discovered his body reacted very poorly to standard treatments. Not only did he get a severe internal infection that required surgery, he also began having trouble speaking and once became so disoriented, he told doctors his name was “Cheese.”
Martinez went into remission in April 2022, but after all he’d been through, he was continually afraid the cancer would come back, he said.
Unfortunately, in January 2025, it did.
Martinez is now living “hospital life” again, coming to Montefiore at least every two weeks and awaiting a possible bone marrow transplant, which doctors have said is likely the best way to rid his body of cancerous cells for good.
Through all the fear, pain and depression Martinez has experienced, Polly has helped him get through.
During his hundreds of hospital visits, Martinez has taken Polly outside to walk and play fetch, and she’s sat in bed with him during difficult procedures, such as intubation
Martinez said he loves the fact that Polly is always happy to see him return to the hospital, even though he may dread it. “She always comes and licks me,” he said.
As a resident hospital dog, Polly is one-of-a-kind. Katy Dessick, a certified child life specialist and the dog’s handler, said Polly began intensive training as a puppy — only about half of the trained dogs do well enough to graduate and be placed within hospitals.
Polly meets with four to six patients per day and more than 1,000 interactions last year, mostly with oncology patients, according to Dessick.
These young patients often “hit a wall” where doctors and social workers can’t get through to them anymore — that’s when Polly really shines, said Dessick. “A lot of times, when they say no to everything else, they say yes to Polly.”
Dogs like her help normalize the hospital experience and are especially comforting to those patients, like Martinez, who miss their own pets at home, said Dessick.
Just like a doctor or nurse, Polly becomes “embedded” within the families she visits, said Dessick. “I think there’s just a healing power to her she doesn’t even know she has.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
