Though they will be provided with around the clock care, their belongings will have to be minimal, and many memories may have to go. It is a great shock to an ailing senior to switch from a private home to a senior's residence. Many senior citizens suffer from depression and unfortunately their health only deteriorates further. However, senior's centres have begun to look into new residents entering their facility. These fresh faces are known to bring up the spirits and longevity of their patients. These residents are of the furry kind. Dogs and cats!
Some long-term care facilities across North America are experimenting with pets in their residences. The management of each senior's centre ensures that no residents or staff suffers from allergies. The facility then adopts animals from a local humane society or animal shelter and brings them in as the new resident mascots. While loving their new furry companions becomes the pass time of many patients of these long-term care facilities, the staff tends to the animal's basic needs.
After being interviewed, many staff members have commented on how the most depressed patients are quickly rejuvenated as they're 'needed' by these furry companions. Their spirits are raised and their ailments seem to decrease. It is said that some minor problems actually disappear! The once silent common rooms are now bustling with laughter and the exuberant chatter from the senior citizens. Because of lap dogs or mischievous cats, a sense of newfound strength and energy enters each room.
We all need to be wanted. Once in a senior's long-term care facility, many residents feel that their time is over and that they need something to live for. Many people unfortunately do not receive nearly the amount of visits from family and friends as desired. Therefore, a resident can fall under a quick depression while watching others suffer with illness and their families hardly visit. Dogs, cats, and in some cases miniature pigs enter the grounds needing care, lessons and most of all love. Senior's feelings of despair are quickly erased with each purr or bark. They need to take care of these little furry friends!
The new bonds of mutual love and affection work two fold. Many animals from shelters are quickly adopted into senior centres. Each animal changes from being lonely and without a family, into being adopted in a home with many people to love and being the centre of attention. The senior homes soon have official mascots! What more could a dog or cat want?
These animals are known to play a special role in the senior's lives. Unfortunately, when a resident is passing away, many staff have commented that the cats and dogs, especially those who favour that resident, will enter the room of the ailing patient and sit around him or her until they pass away--such a sad yet beautiful testament of true friendship. No one should die alone.
The attitude of a patient definitely changes when there is so much excitement in the facility. Mischievous pets knocking things over, play fights, and silly moments make great conversation and laughter with the seniors. When visitors do come, the awkwardness of the facility is quickly erased when friends and family can bond over the playful pets around them.
Some senior's facilities also allow their residents to bring their pets from home into the centre. Allowing a family member such as a dog or a cat to accompany you makes the transition less stressful for both the pet and the patient. The pet quickly realizes that it will have many more admirers waiting for love as well.
As the numbers of seniors grow with the aging baby boomer population, the dynamic of the senior's homes will as well. Pets such as dogs and cats will become a staple for each centre, allowing residents to teach and love at these furry companions. Each pet also inherits dozens of new family members, all of which are attentive to their needs and their arms are open with love. Both the new pet and the new resident have a new found energy, love and bond between each other and give each other the strength to face another day with positivity and laughter.
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Biography
