Here’s a great story about nursing home resident Mim and her experience of living in a pet friendly aged care facility.
Mim, a 90-year-old woman with dementia who lives at Tanderra Aged Care Facility with her 12-year-old poodle, Chloe.
Chloe’s become part of the family there, and I think it’s made a huge difference to Mim. She’s in the later stages of dementia, but it’s quite common to find her in her comfort chair with Chloe curled up on her lap and she looks so content and gorgeous, it’s really lovely.
Mim has never been married and never had a family, and Chloe was really like a child for her. Mim’s next-of-kin Veronica said, “I think Mim would have totally given up if she couldn’t have Chloe with her. The dog is still a great comfort for her. And the other residents seem to enjoy seeing Chloe too. It humanises the whole experience.”
Veronica pays for a dog walker to come in twice a day, and Tanderra have created a care plan for Chloe to enable her to live with Mim.
The aged care facility that Mim lives in has a flexible and inclusive approach to aged care. “We’re fairly lucky because unlike a lot of providers, we have a really strong person-focused approach,” reported the aged care facility manager of integrated services.
“When I first came to view the centres, one of the first things I saw was Mim with her poodle on her lap and I said, ‘Oh, you have a facility dog,’ and they said no, that’s actually her pet. I thought, ‘I’m accepting this job,’”said the aged care manager of integrated services. She has been with the organisation for nine months and worked in residential care for 30 years, managing facilities for 20 years. “It was just a really good sign.”
