Monterey, CA: Seniors At Pacific Coast Transitional Care Center In Salinas Have Day Brightened By Th
Monterey, CA: Seniors At Pacific Coast Transitional Care Center Have Day Brightened By Therapy Dog International: View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California
The Monterey Herald had a great story today about golden retrievers cheering up seniors in a nursing home. It pictured Percy and his myriad friends at the Pacific Coast Transitional Care Center, a nursing home in Salinas where he has been training for three years since he was a puppy. He mastered 10 criteria and was trained to get used to startling noises which can be common in a hospital setting. He's also been trained not to eat food which has been dropped on the floor so staff knows when patients haven't eaten their full meal. He's been coming to work every day since he was six months old with trainer Karen Hughes Ward, a speech pathologist who works there. It's official, Percy has completed his training and is now officially a therapy dog. Gerald Hunter, executive director at Pacific Coast Care, is a big fan. "What seems to bring joy to people in a long-term care facility are children of any age, pets of any size, and music and entertainment," he told the Herald. Percy is joined on the job by another dog from HOPE, a program for developmentally delayed people, and two others from Therapy Dog International in Salinas. In a similar story in Kiplinger's Retirement Report (June 12 Issue, Page 18), 67-year old Carroll Colasardo was profiled. She credits visits from therapy dogs which lifted her spirits after a hospital stay in 2001. It inspired her to become a volunteer worker, accompanied by her Shetland Sheepdog. She now has seven of them, and four of them are registered to perform animal-assisted therapy. She and her dogs volunteer at a hospital where they visit with patients. They also work with the non-profit group Gabriel's Angels that uses dogs and their human handlers to give therapy to abused children in trust building exercises. There's another national organization called Therapy Dogs, Inc. which registers dogs and their human handlers to do animal-assisted therapy. From brightening the lives of a senior in a nursing home to visiting schools and libraries, these animals play an important role in brightening the lives of thousands of people. They may make them healthier too. It's been found that pets can help lower blood pressure, reduce the level of the stress hormone cortisol and even boost immunity. Dr. Dawn Marcus from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said she became involved in animal-assisted therapy when she observed that her patients who had dogs were more likely to comply with treatments she prescribed. Man's best friend for sure.
About Richard Kuehn & Hands to Help Seniors:
After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member, it became clear to me that there are many seniors that can't afford to pay for a private duty caregiver, not to mention medical expenses, food and property taxes on their home. I decided to form a non-profit to help seniors with any service they might need to get by, should they be unable to afford this themselves. From putting on a new roof to providing a hot meal, Hands to Help Seniors is there to help. Please visit my blog where I talk about important senior issues at:
http://www.h2hs.org/news-and-media.html
The Monterey Herald had a great story today about golden retrievers cheering up seniors in a nursing home. It pictured Percy and his myriad friends at the Pacific Coast Transitional Care Center, a nursing home in Salinas where he has been training for three years since he was a puppy. He mastered 10 criteria and was trained to get used to startling noises which can be common in a hospital setting. He's also been trained not to eat food which has been dropped on the floor so staff knows when patients haven't eaten their full meal. He's been coming to work every day since he was six months old with trainer Karen Hughes Ward, a speech pathologist who works there. It's official, Percy has completed his training and is now officially a therapy dog. Gerald Hunter, executive director at Pacific Coast Care, is a big fan. "What seems to bring joy to people in a long-term care facility are children of any age, pets of any size, and music and entertainment," he told the Herald. Percy is joined on the job by another dog from HOPE, a program for developmentally delayed people, and two others from Therapy Dog International in Salinas. In a similar story in Kiplinger's Retirement Report (June 12 Issue, Page 18), 67-year old Carroll Colasardo was profiled. She credits visits from therapy dogs which lifted her spirits after a hospital stay in 2001. It inspired her to become a volunteer worker, accompanied by her Shetland Sheepdog. She now has seven of them, and four of them are registered to perform animal-assisted therapy. She and her dogs volunteer at a hospital where they visit with patients. They also work with the non-profit group Gabriel's Angels that uses dogs and their human handlers to give therapy to abused children in trust building exercises. There's another national organization called Therapy Dogs, Inc. which registers dogs and their human handlers to do animal-assisted therapy. From brightening the lives of a senior in a nursing home to visiting schools and libraries, these animals play an important role in brightening the lives of thousands of people. They may make them healthier too. It's been found that pets can help lower blood pressure, reduce the level of the stress hormone cortisol and even boost immunity. Dr. Dawn Marcus from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said she became involved in animal-assisted therapy when she observed that her patients who had dogs were more likely to comply with treatments she prescribed. Man's best friend for sure.
About Richard Kuehn & Hands to Help Seniors:
After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member, it became clear to me that there are many seniors that can't afford to pay for a private duty caregiver, not to mention medical expenses, food and property taxes on their home. I decided to form a non-profit to help seniors with any service they might need to get by, should they be unable to afford this themselves. From putting on a new roof to providing a hot meal, Hands to Help Seniors is there to help. Please visit my blog where I talk about important senior issues at:
http://www.h2hs.org/news-and-media.html
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