Facility:

Residential Aged Care

Date of visit:                                               

13 August 2009

VPAT visitor:                      

Sandra Jensen

VPAT pet visitor:               

Ayla

Species/breed:

Labrador

VPAT visitor’s comments:

Some of the benefits offered to client’s from today’s visit were memory recall, communication, physical movement, and emotional interaction. These were displayed in M and J’s interaction with Ayla.  M was in bed and when asked if she would like to see Ayla she was so excited she attempted to climb out of bed by herself. As M patted Ayla she chatted about her memories of her precious dog that had died several years earlier. M was very spiritual and felt very strongly about the special bond that dogs have with humans and she seemed especially pleased to be able to talk about this with someone she obviously thought would understand her.  M smiled and laughed at Ayla’s tricks and really enjoyed giving her a treat.  J was also extremely excited to see Ayla.  She patter her with lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ she was almost beside herself with emotion and joy.  There was a staff member with J during our visit and as we left the room J was enthusiastically telling her about how wonderful Ayla was and how she loved her visit.  It was very rewarding for me to se how much joy, fun, laughter and love Ayla brings to the residents and staff who also love to give her a pat and say ‘hello’.