It was a silent, slow Friday afternoon in the lobby at Intermountain Health’s Heber Valley Hospital, aside from the occasional cooing from patients and employees alike as they came in contact with Pippi, a 6-year-old, gingerbread-colored goldendoodle hired as the hospital’s first therapy dog. 

Her handler, Kirsten Nilsson, usually breaks the ice with patients by asking them if they have any dogs. 

“I’m very careful not to ever be like, ‘So, what’s wrong?’ I just sort of ignore that they’re in the hospital. We talk about the weather, and whatever they want to do,” she said. “I’ll bring Pippi, and she’ll sit on the bed, and I’ll just stay as long as it feels like they need someone to talk to. Sometimes they’re lonely.”

As volunteers, Nilsson and Pippi have visited Intermountain Health’s Park City Hospital every Wednesday for the past four years. The pair started visiting the Heber Valley Hospital earlier this month and plans to continue doing so on the first Tuesday of each month.

Usually, the pair wanders in the lobby and visits the medical-surgical wing and emergency clinic to see if any patients might be interested in a visit from Pippi, usually by checking with the receptionist.

“Sometimes, Pippi will identify someone and start walking towards them, which I’ve learned to not ever ignore, because a lot of times, dogs can sense there’s something wrong or that they need somebody,” Nilsson said. “If Pippi picks someone out, then they’re always like, ‘This is just what I needed.’ It’s really rewarding.”

Nilsson often gives patients a card with Pippi’s “stats,” like her birthday and favorite sport: swimming with the ducks in the lake near Nilsson’s house.

Pippi learned everything she knows through the Salt Lake City organization, Intermountain Therapy Animals. Her certification test involved placing Pippi in a fake hospital environment, complete with crutches, a gurney and pills scattered on the floor that could potentially distract her. The goal was for her to jump onto a hospital bed and let a patient pet her. 

“She wanted to spend most of her time with the people who were just pretending to hang out at the hospital and didn’t really want to hang out with me,” Nilsson said. “She was overly friendly with everybody else, which is great.”

Nilsson, the children’s librarian for the Summit County Library, first adopted Pippi to certify her as a Reading Education Assistance Dog through Intermountain Therapy Animals. Those dogs attentively listen to kids read aloud to help them develop their fluency. 

Pippi was born just five months before the COVID-19 lockdown, so she wasn’t a fan of kids when she first met them in the wild. But now, she’s perfectly attentive as they read to her. If she ever gets overwhelmed, she’ll go to her “safe space,” the top of Nilsson’s storytime book cart, where the children’s little hands are mercifully out of reach. 

Pippi also visits the Salt Lake City International Airport about once a month to meet anxious flyers or people with delayed flights. That’s the most stimulating environment Pippi has been in. 

The pup is much more at home at the Heber Valley Hospital, which is generally even quieter than the Park City Hospital.

Pippi can handle visits of about an hour. When she’s feeling done, she lies on the floor, four legs splayed out like a taxidermy rug. Sometimes, though, that just means she’s enjoying the cool feeling of the tile floor against her fur.

Nilsson said three teams of Intermountain Therapy Animals handlers and therapy dogs visit the Park City Hospital. She hopes to convince some of them to volunteer at the Heber Valley Hospital, too, especially since a few live in Heber City.

She also encouraged anyone who may be interested to train a therapy dog. She said her experience with Pippi has made her more considerate of other people, more comfortable starting up conversations and a more inclusive individual.

“(Pippi) doesn’t care what you look like or how you’re dressed or what kind of piercings you have or tattoos,” Nilsson said. “The fun thing is everyone reacts to her the same way.”

Pippi clearly has a positive effect on the patients, too, as evidenced by a time someone spotted Pippi in the Park City Hospital cafeteria and asked Nilsson to visit his mom in the intensive care unit.

“His mom was in pretty bad shape and not really responsive, and looked uncomfortable. And we walked in, and she saw the dog, and everything changed. She just became much more relaxed,” Nilsson said. “Pippi put her head on top of the woman’s hand, and then, with her other hand, she could pet her on the head. It was amazing. Everyone in the room started crying. And she stayed there for minutes, like she knew, ‘This is something that I’m here for.’”

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The Lehi Police Department arrested a former Heber Valley Hospital manager on Monday for theft and burglary, one month before the man is scheduled to appear in court for similar charges he pleaded guilty to in Fourth District Court over the summer. 

Jason Brauner, 47, had not been formally charged in Utah County as of Thursday afternoon. However, a judge ordered Brauner to be held without bail on Tuesday. The affidavit of probable cause alleged Brauner stole approximately $25,000 worth of medical supplies and devices, including skin grafts and medical tools, from Holy Cross Hospital – Mountain Point in Lehi. 

Brauner previously worked at the Heber Valley Hospital. In 2023, he was arrested and charged with using his access badge to steal from the hospital and other employees. He was convicted in August.

Now, Lehi police are accusing Brauner of something similar.

In the most recent case, surveillance footage allegedly showed a man later identified as Brauner wearing hospital scrubs and a surgical mask as he entered the hospital at 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 25. The footage shows Brauner leaving the hospital about 10 minutes later, carrying several items under his arms, according to the affidavit.

Lehi police were dispatched to the hospital the same day. Hospital staff initially estimated that around $10,000 worth of equipment was taken from the emergency room, but discovered it was closer to $25,000 after a full inventory, including more than $13,000 in bone grafts.

Last week, officers said they learned that Brauner allegedly entered the hospital during overnight hours “without authorization, accessed restricted areas, and removed hospital property” between Nov. 11 and Nov. 26. Surveillance footage shows Brauner entering through unsecured dock doors and moving through restricted materials and supply areas, including the day of the reported burglary. 

A security officer approached Brauner days earlier after observing a suspicious parked car. He briefly displayed a badge, identified himself by a different name and then left in a vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Police said they later learned that multiple secured doors, “including core access and operating room access doors, had been intentionally taped open” allowing unauthorized access into the hospital. However, the affidavit says it’s unclear if Brauner taped the doors or if hospital staff did.

Brauner was identified after information from hospital staff, who recognized him as a former housekeeper. Further investigation showed Brauner had been involved in similar thefts at hospitals, including West Jordan in November, and California in July, where he was arrested for stealing approximately $100,000 worth of medical supplies. 

The affidavit said Brauner is currently on probation in California for that offence as well as the one in Heber City.

“Brauner’s prior employment in hospital settings explains his possession of hospital-style scrubs and an ID badge and demonstrates his familiarity with hospital layouts, access points, and supply storage areas,” court documents state. “In prior cases involving Brauner, stolen medical supplies were recovered from both his vehicle and his residence, establishing a pattern of transporting and storing stolen hospital property.”

Police found handwritten medical inventory sheets as well as contact information for medical providers interested in purchasing bone grafts during a subsequent search of Brauner’s Salt Lake City home. Brauner’s wife confirmed to police that he had been selling bone and skin grafts and disposable medical supplies to companies around the country, the affidavit said.

Brauner was the environmental services manager for Heber Valley Hospital when he was arrested on similar charges in May 2023.

A hospital employee notified the Heber City Police Department in April that cash and a credit card had been stolen from her staff locker, according to a police booking affidavit. That night, the employee received a credit card alert notifying her that the card had been used at a store in Sandy.

A second employee told the investigating officer a similar story — that items, including a credit card, had been stolen from his locker in the men’s locker room. Both the break room and the men’s locker room required badge identification to enter.

Security footage from a store in Cottonwood Heights showed a man and a woman each using one of the stolen credit cards. The pair left the store in what appeared to be the same vehicle. 

In May, an employee of the hospital’s Ear, Nose & Throat Center found that medical equipment worth approximately $26,000 had been stolen. The employee noticed three scopes were missing from a storage closet, and cupboards and drawers were left open in the neighboring exam room. There were no signs of forced entry.

Investigators presented still frames of the security footage to the Heber Valley Hospital, which identified the man as Brauner. Administrators said Brauner was on paternity leave and had made statements about possibly visiting California. 

Heber police also learned that Brauner had keys and badge access to all areas of the hospital through his position. Video surveillance also showed Brauner removing items from the Ear, Nose & Throat Center around the time of the theft.

Brauner later admitted that “he had items from the center and had possibly stored them inside his residence,” according to the affidavit. Brauner was booked into the Wasatch County Jail on theft in a value exceeding $5,000, a second-degree felony.

Brauner was found guilty in Fourth District Court on Aug. 13 on seven charges, including theft in the amount between $1,500 and $4,999 from the Ear, Nose & Throat Center on May 6, 2023. 

A restitution hearing in the case was scheduled for Jan. 15, 2026. Wasatch County prosecutors requested that Brauner pay complete restitution to the Ear, Nose & Throat Center for $14,716.50. During the restitution hearing, a judge will determine whether Brauner must pay that amount.

The post Former Heber Valley Hospital manager arrested for medical supplies theft, again appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City Hospital hosted a Pea Party for women and their children to attend Monday afternoon, June 19, 2017. Kids painted rocks, planted vegetables and enjoyed a healthy snack. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Pea-Party/

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