Therapy Dogs - Does Your Nursing Home Have Them?
I am a dog person. I love dogs. I believe they bring joy into our lives like few other things. That is why over the past 20 or so years, I have owned a dog. Pictured here is my dog Maggie May. As you can see, she is very patient with me.
When I first moved to Idaho, I was looking for some public service work I could perform. One of the services I became involved in was a "therapy dog" program at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in downtown Boise. As a dog owner/lover, it seemed like a perfect fit, and it was. Now, my dog at the time, Sherwood, a yellow lab was not a therapy dog, although she possibly could have been. Instead, I would arrive at the hospital and take the therapy dog and its human around to different parts of the hospital to visit patients, both young and old. The interaction between the therapy dog and patient was something I will never forget.
A recent piece in the Los Angeles Times discussed the use of therapy dogs in "senior communities." According to the piece: "There is a growing body of medical research that shows how interacting with dogs (and other pets) improve seniors' emotional and physical well-being." After reading the piece, it got me thinking...why not have pet therapy in nursing homes in Idaho?
There are resources out there for just such services. One I stumbled upon, called "Idaho Paws for Effect" has a website. According to the website, the organization already apparently already visits several nursing homes in the Treasure Valley area. Another resource, "Heart to Heart: Pets With a Purpose, also apparently provides therapy dogs for long-term care facilities. (I am in no way affiliated with either of these organizations, nor am I stating they are the only resource out there.)
Does your nursing home or assisted living facility provide pet therapy? If not, and you are interested in having having a visit from a therapy dog, you should ask your facility to look into arranging for such a visit.
There are few things in the world that make you feel as good as just petting a dog. But, that view comes from a dog lover.
