OT!!! Need a quick poll on cats please
Cindy Fuller wrote:
> Believe it, Sheldon. Many nursing homes and retirement facilities are
> going toward something called the Eden alternative. This includes
> plants, aquariums, pets, and (YES) children. The philosophy is that
> elders get psychosocial stimulation from a more diverse environment,
> which makes them happier and pays off in reduced medications. Obviously
> if a patient is in the very skilled nursing section (on oxygen, IV's,
> and the like), critters may be limited to fishbowls; however, for the
> most part the Edenization is facility-wide. Even hospitals will allow
> Delta Society-trained dogs in on occasion to visit patients.
>
> A Nature show on PBS several years ago featured a cat in a nursing home
> in Oswego, NY (near where I grew up). Said cat would visit residents,
> and had an uncanny knack for going to the rooms of residents who were
> near death and curling up with them. In some cases the patients
> actually reached out and petted the cat, and had some comfort in their
> last hours.
>
> Cindy
>
Oh, I remember that!
--
Jean B.
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