The day after the cat show, I went on a therapy cat visit to a pair of assisted living facilities near my house. It’s hard to get scheduled in for these visits. They only have therapy pets twice a month, and the slots get snatched up pretty quickly by other volunteers. So this is the first time I got to come by for a couple of months.
It turned out that there was a new activity director… and she loves cats! Like, really loves and gets us — she even got down on my level to say hello to me. We spent some time in the lobby with some residents before going to the big room.
My human always recognizes some of the patients, although they never seem to remember us. Since this is a facility for people who have dementia, that’s not really surprising. Some of the residents barely acknowledge our presence (or don’t at all), but others are delighted to see me. A few people were a little rough petting me, so my human had to put her hands under theirs to keep them from grasping too hard. It helped sometimes if she showed them how to pet me with the back of their hands. That way, they can’t grab.
A lot of people with dementia repeat themselves over and over. It’s something that my human has come to expect. What she didn’t expect was one man in a wheelchair who kept repeating himself… in Spanish, and she could actually respond in kind! Another wheelchair-bound man talked about his cats, and his hunting dogs. There was one ancient woman who wasn’t interested in me at all. She kept touching my human’s hand and arm and smiling. She didn’t say anything, but my human sat with her for a very long time.
The second building, across the street, has residents whose dementia isn’t as severe. They were more gentle with petting me. One man who petted me lots had shaky hands. There is a lady there who wears a lot of makeup that we’ve seen every time we’ve been here. Every time we come, she is a little bit less put together, but it has been very slow, and my human is glad for that. A man sitting on the same couch as her petted me for a while, and then got up and tried to say something to this lady. She had no idea what he wanted, and neither did my human. So he walked off and the lady leaned over and said, “I don’t think he’s all there.”
There is an activity room next to the big room of this facility, and a group of residents were working with plants and pots. We finished up our visit there.
Dementia is such a horrid disease…Thanks for visiting those peeps, you brightened their day, even if they might not remember it.
Mee-yow wow you an yore Moewmy are furry wunderfull an speshell to vissit Deementia peepell. LadyMew used to take care of Deementia peepss an shee did not last long at it. Shee told mee shee wuud cry so much when shee gotted home aftur werk. Mee hopess shee nevurr getss this illness!!
Thanx fore beein so kind to peepell….
**purrsss** BellaDharma
That’s so wonderful that you and your mom visit facilities such as these. Mom makes quarterly visits with her church friends to spread the love, happiness, company, and joy. It’s a great feeling. She even see’s folks living with their pets at some locations. Thank you for all you and your mom do for human and kitty kind. Purrs
TW wishes I was different so she could take me to the seniors across the street. The bus driver brings his dog and they love it.You’re a star, Summer.
It’s so lovely what you and your human do for these people, Summer xx
Summer the people at the dementia facility love seeing you I’m sure – for just a little while they have something new and beautiful to focus on. My Mom’s Mom had Alzheimers and on the days they had visiting pets, she would smile the whole time. You never know what your impact is sometimes but it’s a HAPPY place for some of them to see a pet.
Love, Teddy
It must be so sad to see people wth dementia, but we know you bring smiles to many faces, Summer!
Purrs,
Tama and Genji
You and your human did such an awesome job, Summer. You both brought exactly what those patients needed!
Simmee, it warms my heart when I read about your therapy blogs. What noble work you and your human do. So many people shun those with dementia and Alzheimer disease. They are still humans with hearts and feelings. They need attention and live more than most and are most forgotten. It’s with a tear I say thank you Sumner and your awesome, compassionate human. Great work
Sorry about the typos. Summer and love not live
Kindness is so important. So is patience. Everyone deserves love and respect and you do both.
We bet you (and your human, too) do more good than you even know.
You and your human BOTH are such heroes for doing all you do. It can’t be easy to willingly visit such sad places.
It’s a great kindness that both of you do.
You and your Mom are so patient
You and your human bring happiness wherever you go.
it’s so kind of you and your human to go visit the seniors. It is so difficult for people with dementia and for those who love pets, you must make their day.
How sweet of you and your human to spread joy to all these people. I wish places like that could have a resident cat or 2.
How kind of you guys to go to an assisted living facility. Our mom’s dad was in one, but he didn’t have dementia. He would have LOVED therapy cats!
You are very kind to spend time with dementia patients.
They are harder to spend time with for most. Your picture
shows you looking like a confident therapy cat ready for
and looking forward to her work.
We all hope that modern medicine soon discovers a way to prevent dementia, Summer.
Well that sure sounds like an interesting visit. So glad you and your Mom went to visit them. Good job.
I’m glad you got to go they and spread some feline love to those who need it sweet Summer.
Sounds like another good therapy visit, Summer. It’s great that there are so many volunteers doing this, though hard for you to be able to visit.
Summer, tell your mom thank you for sitting with the one lady who showed how much she needed the presence of a lovely, kind woman, your mom, that she probably imagined was her daughter or granddaughter. And thank you both for going.
That was a good deed!
WE bet you brought some happiness to the older people.
We believe petting a cat is very therapeutic and makes people feel relaxed 🙂
Purrs,Georgia and Julie
You and your Mom do such a wonderful service to the community