Therapy pets help people of all ages in need of physical, emotional or recreational therapy. A new therapy dog at Cypress Cove’s assisted living center at Health Park in Fort Myers is making an impact on the residents as he helps them with daily activities.
Drex is a three-and-a-half-year-old black lab/golden mix who seems intimidating at first but wins people over with calm, sleepy eyes. He helps the residents with daily activities such as opening doors, picking up items from the floor, and helping them refine their motor skills. Cypress Cove Recreational Therapist Hannah Jessup said she has many activities for the residents to do.
“Alright, so we’re going to have him to jump through the hula hoop,” said Jessup. “Ok, I might have to use some encouragement. And what does Drex usually get for encouragement?” asked Jessup.
“A pat on the back?” asked one resident.
“Ok, maybe a pat on the back. What else? It’s round,” said Jessup.
“Dog food, treats?” said another resident.
“Not a treat! Not dog food, you can throw it or hit it with a bat.” said Jessup.
“Oh, a ball!” exclaimed the residents.
“Drex, here you go! Alright, on the count of three. One, two, three. Drex, jump!” said Jessup.
Jessup laid large, colorful puzzle pieces on the floor, and asked them to choose a piece and name its color. Drex picked up the piece and gave it to Jessup, who put the puzzle together.
Residents also practice their motor skills using hair clips and a bright blue wig. Drex wore the silly wig and walked up to the residents, who were each holding hair clips. They had to clip Drex’s “hair” back so he could see again. They all laughed as Drex walked around in the blue wig. Jessup gave instructions.
“Ok, can you lean down and put it in his hair? Oh, good job! Can you tell him good job?” asked Jessup.
“Drex, you do alright!” said a resident.
Jessup has worked with Drex there for a year. She recalled her favorite story of how Drex changed a resident’s life.
“The lady that I worked with had lost most of her mobility, due to her disease, to walk,” she said. “I have a separate leash that the resident could hold, and we would take Drex for a walk. So she kind of got a sense of being independent and she was able to get outside, she was able to feed Drex and toilet Drex. One of the staff came up and said, ‘What’s your favorite thing about aging?’ and the resident said, ‘having a dog of her own’.”
Marketing Coordinator Paula Scott from Pet Partners explained that therapy pets can help people of all ages with many different skills, but she said comfort is the most important.
“Just snuggling and being there,” said Scott. “They also provide motivation for physical therapy patients; motivation to walk or refine motor skills, also. A lot of the times physical therapists engage our therapy animal teams to do things like brushing, buckling collars and leashes, things like that.”
Pet Partners is a national nonprofit organization that was established in 1977 as the Delta Society. It was a pioneer in the field of investigating how and why animals provide health benefits to humans.
Now it registers teams of people and their pets to visit patients in hospitals, residents in nursing homes, students in schools, and other facilities.
Hope Hospice also offers volunteer pet services for its patients.
John Strickling, Director of Community Relations, said patients who have a pet, but cannot continue to take care of it, can use the services. Volunteers visit the patient’s home and walk their pets, feed them, and take them to the vet.
“With hospice patients, they may have a concern. ‘What’s going to happen to my cat? What’s going to happen with my dog when I’m no longer here or when I can no longer get out of bed and take care of them?’ And that’s where we come in,” said Strickling.
Patients who live at Hope Hospice do not miss out on the pet services, as well as the entertainment.
“The pets come to our hospice houses and they’ll walk through the halls and drop in on whoever would like to see them, said Strickling. “And we use the pets for entertainment in the houses. We’ll have holiday parades of pets in the hallways, we’ll have doggy weddings, all sorts of entertainment in addition to the cuddling.”
Strickling said Hope Hospice also arranges to find homes for pets whose owners have passed away so that the owners can be at peace knowing their pet will continue to live a good life.