Therapy Dog Nibs On the Job in Fort Smith

Nibs, an occupational therapy dog, helps fill the ball pit at the College of Health Sciences.

Someone may have to keep a close eye on Nibs around all those bones, but we are sure everything will be OK because she is such a good girl.

Nibs, a lab-golden retriever mix, is the latest employee of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education in Fort Smith, which is planning an expansion with the opening of the 66,000-SF College of Health Sciences building.

ACHE will offer degrees in physical therapy, occupational therapy and physician assistant studies, and the classes will be held in the just completed, $25 million college next to ACHE’s osteopathic medical school in Fort Smith.

ACHE faculty and staff are still moving furniture and equipment into the building in preparation for an open house that is scheduled for today. Executive Director of Communications Susan Devero said skeletons (for training purposes) were still being assembled.

Nibs’ owner is Tracey Zeiner, an OT professor, and Nibs did her part by helping fill the therapeutic ball pit.

Once the school opens, Nibs will go back to her day job of helping people with physical disabilities.

The new schools of study at ACHE won’t open for business for at least a year because each has to go through the meticulous approval process of their respective national accreditation organizations. Benny Gooden, ACHE’s executive in charge of the accreditation effort, said the anticipated opening date for occupational and physical therapy classes is the summer of 2021. The physician assistant program is expected to open a year later.

ACHE expects to have 110 students a class once the three schools are open.

“We are in the queue in that accreditation process,” Gooden said. “It is a matter of time, a matter of process. It’s not for the faint of heart.”