A nursing home where elderly people and abandoned animals are taken care of
One pet shelter in Arizona needed help because the staff could not cope with the large influx of kittens. The management made an unusual decision to seek help in a nursing home whose residents suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's disease. So patients who themselves need round-the-clock help and supervision have become babysitters for tiny kittens. And it has benefited both sides.
The program was invented by the director of the nursing home's medical services department, Rebecca Hamilton, who in her spare time voluntarily helped the pet shelter and took care of kittens. She noticed that she feels great joy when she does volunteer work with animals, and decided to share it with the residents of the nursing home.
When a pet shelter in Arizona didn't have enough workers, they turned to a nursing home for help.
It may seem strange to give these little kittens into the hands of people who themselves need care.
"But there are skills, emotions and needs that do not leave a person, even if he has dementia or Alzheimer's disease," says Sharon Mercer, director of the center.
"The desire to give and receive love remains."
The initiative was successful: the general condition of both kittens and elderly people has improved significantly.
"Kittens have given us the opportunity to alleviate this disease, which affects all our inhabitants."
The joy that elderly people get by feeding and caressing helpless newborn kittens is enormous. And the kittens are also grateful to them.
Keywords: Nursing home | Pets | Care | Kittens | Shelter