Patients dig dog named Lucy
Published: March 3, 2006
There are few things residents of the Alzheimer’s ward at the state Veteran’s Nursing Home remember. But everyone seems to recognize Lucy, a 3-year-old purebred bloodhound that moved into the unit in January.
“She was really kind of nervous,” said Colleen Nichols, administrator of the nursing home, of Lucy’s first trip to the unit. “She’s never been on a leash much, but we put her on a leash and brought her down to the unit and that was it.”
Lucy started life in the state corrections department as a tracking dog, spending some time at the Draper prison, but didn’t take to the work. Meanwhile, Nichols had been looking for a dog to add to the nursing home’s existing collection of animals, which includes several birds and a cat named Digit.
She fell in love with Lucy the second she saw her picture on the state’s Web site. And residents at the nursing home, especially those in the Alzheimer’s unit, fell in love with Lucy the second she walked through the door.
“It’s like she was trained, bred for this position,” said Grace Richards, a registered nurse working at the home. “You couldn’t get a better dog than Lucy has been down there.”
Now retired from tracking work, Lucy spends most of her time downstairs with the 21 residents of the Alzheimer’s unit. Joel Hurtado, a certified nurse’s assistant who has worked in the unit for five years, was skeptical about having a dog at first. He thought the residents might not like having a dog, or that the dog wouldn’t like being around so many people all the time. But the arrangement is working out perfectly.
“She seems to be friendly with everybody and tolerant of everyone,” Hurtado said, noting Lucy is even patient with residents who shoo her away. “She seems to fit in real good down here. It’s taken a couple years to find a dog like this that would work.”
Having spent most of her life outdoors in kennels, Nichols wasn’t sure how Lucy would react around people. She wasn’t even sure if the dog was housebroken, but so far Lucy hasn’t had any accidents. She also hasn’t had any negative interactions with any residents. She even gets along with Digit, who mostly lives upstairs.
Animals have several positive influences, emotional and physical, on all the residents of the nursing home. For instance, residents have lower heart rates and blood pressure.
“They’re just more relaxed because over all, it’s more of a homelike setting,” Richards said.
The presence of animals also helps relieve some of the sense of isolation that comes from living in a nursing home, Nichols said.
“When they’re sad and unhappy they can focus on something other than themselves and their sadness,” she said.
That kind of outside distraction is especially important for Alzheimer’s patients, who often live in a world of their own, unaware of what’s going on around them.
“I have noticed a measurable increase in some of the guys’ cognition downstairs because of the dog,” Richards said. “It pulls them out of their self-centered world and makes them mindful.”
Many of the residents have even taken some ownership of Lucy. One man, who stays up later than most of the other residents, sits with Lucy at his feet each night, patting her head until he goes to sleep. And although she has a big, fleece bed, Lucy prefers sleeping on the floor, beside the bed of another resident.
The residents even hate to see Lucy outside during meal time.
“They’ll throw a piece of their sandwich down to her,” Hurtado said. “I’ve even seen them give the whole sandwich.”
That kind of ownership and responsibility is vital for those who have lost almost everything else.
“So much gets taken away from them as far as lifestyle and privacy issues,” Hurtado said. “As much as we can give them back, I think it helps a lot.”
Animals also have a sixth sense about the residents, Nichols said. Whenever residents on the upper floor are sick or dying, Digit goes to their room and hops in their bed. When a resident dies and Taps is played, Digit sits still and listens.
“Lucy downstairs, I think, will do the same thing,” Nichols said. “They just kind of sense when a resident needs a little extra company.”
Sometimes it’s not the residents who need comforting and company. Many family members with loved ones in the Alzheimer’s unit, love to see Lucy.
“The dog recognizes that family member that will come in every day and the dog wants to see them. Even if maybe your family member doesn’t recognize you, the dog does,” Hurtado said. “I think it eases a little bit of the stress of this disease on the family.”
It also eases the stress for staff members like Hurtado. Working with Alzheimer’s patients can be trying, he said. Conversation can be difficult and things need to be almost constantly repeated. It can be overwhelming.
“I think it lifts the spirits even for us,” he said. “You can have a bad day down here. The dog gives you a little bit of a break.
“She seems to want to be down here,” Hurtado said. “She doesn’t try to run out the door.”
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