Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, December 17, 2012; 6:30-8:00 pm
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| Daisy |
The program description for this
one intrigued me a lot. “Pairs of volunteers make the rounds with a
friendly pet to socialize with residents in individual rooms. Volunteers
without pets will pair up with pet owners.”
I have always been very fond of dogs, without making any commitment to
having one as a pet. This seemed like a
great way to spend an evening with pets, while serving the seniors at Lakeview
Nursing.
A day before, I learned that my
friend Irina had also signed up for this project and I met up with her next evening in the
lobby. Every Monday evening Chicago
Cares also hosts Bingo and so the place was full of volunteers. Soon the pet owners started arriving. First up was a woman win a cat called
Soldier. He was a cat who seemed to be
at ease and proceeded to stretch out and relax. Next to arrive was a woman with a dog called
Daisy. She was one of the friendliest
dogs that I have seen. Not only did
Daisy get along well with us and other volunteers, she and Soldier bonded and
played with each other while we waited to begin.
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| Daisy bonds with Soldier |
Our volunteer leader Fran
gathered us and when she realized Irina and I were together, assigned us to
walk with Sarah, Daisy’s owner. Fran told us that we were to enter rooms and
ask if the residents wanted to pet the dog.
If they said yes, we would go in and let the dog play with them for a
bit, without letting them get on the bed.
This was because one of the residents was scratched by a dog during one
such event and while she did not mind, the nurses were worried that this would
lead to infection, especially due to their reduced immunity.
Having done this
many times, Sarah knew where to go and what to do. We started on the third floor and went around
the rooms where Sarah would peek in and ask the residents if they wanted to pet
a dog. Many said yes and so we would go
inside and let Daisy play with the resident while we chatted with them. Many talked about pets they used to have and
one lady even made me look inside her desk drawer to find pictures of her
cat. After a while I got the hang of the
process and started going inside the rooms to check if the residents wanted us
to visit. At some places we found Bruce
and June were already in there and the rule was only one pet owner at a
time. We met a lot of remarkable people
that day, including a lady with doggie treats and a gentleman whose room had the most spectacular holiday decorations. He knew Sarah and Daisy
(as did most others) and thus it was more about them catching-up on what had
happened since their last visit.
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| Bruce and June |
Daisy
was brilliant. She was well-behaved and
let people play with her without complaints.
However the temperature inside the Nursing Home was set very high and
Daisy was starting to get tired. Sarah
decided to call it a night soon and we walked down with them. We left the nursing home thinking about the
concluding lines of the program description on Chicago Cares website: “Come be surprised by how much joy an
animal can bring into someone else's day.”
I think that is very accurate… and not just for the residents.
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