Pets are often part of senior moves

EXTENDED CARE: Pocasset Bay Retirement Community residents Marilyn and Richard Dutch with their 1-year-old Shitzu, Misty. The couple live in an independent-living apartment at Pocasset Bay. “Seniors still need someone to care for and their pets are like family,” said Karen Eller, administrator at Pocasset Bay. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
EXTENDED CARE: Pocasset Bay Retirement Community residents Marilyn and Richard Dutch with their 1-year-old Shitzu, Misty. The couple live in an independent-living apartment at Pocasset Bay. “Seniors still need someone to care for and their pets are like family,” said Karen Eller, administrator at Pocasset Bay. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Moving to a retirement or assisted-living community is a major lifestyle change sometimes eased when a beloved pet is part of the move. While many facilities for the elderly bring in visiting therapy dogs, some senior communities allow pets as permanent residents.
“You have to figure that when a senior moves into independent living or assisted living, there’s a loss of control and caring for a pet is like the last piece of independence,” said Karen Eller, administrator at Pocasset Bay Retirement Community in Johnston.
One dog, three cats and two birds currently live with residents at Pocasset Bay. The dog, the cats and a parakeet live with residents in independent-living apartments and a canary lives with a resident in assisted living, said Eller.
“We absolutely believe pets are important and that it’s our responsibility to help our residents who have a pet,” said Eller. “We have a path around the community where residents can walk their dogs.
“If there comes a time when our residents can’t care for a pet, we have personalized in-home care and residents can contract with someone to help them with their pet,” she said.
When 82-year-old Marilyn Dutch and her 83-year-old husband, Richard Dutch, moved into an independent-living apartment at Pocasset Bay a year ago, they already had a young dog, a 16-pound black-and-white Shih Tzu named Misty.
“We lived in the woods in Scituate and we always had dogs. We’ve had all kinds – a cocker spaniel, black labs,” Marilyn Dutch told Providence Business News, as Misty barked in the background.
“She’s barking because there are people in the hallway, but once she gets to know them, she stops barking,” said Dutch. “Misty is fine. She’s adjusted well. We have the groomer come here.”
The Villa at St. Antoine in North Smithfield accepts pets and currently has one dog, one cat and two birds in residence, said spokeswoman Isabel Pestana.
“Pets are family, too. They are as important for our emotional support as our friends and relatives,” said Pestana. “We understand this and we allow pets. The residents have to be at a level where they can take care of a pet.” “We are traditional assisted living, so the residents that bring pets have apartments,” said Pestana. “When you go by the apartment where the two parakeets are, you hear them singing.”
The challenges that come along with pets at home, like walking a dog in frigid winter weather, can be intensified when the owner is an elderly person in assisted living, said Pestana.
“Sometimes the family picks up the dog during the coldest winter months and then brings it in when they visit. Then they bring the dog back to the resident in the spring,” said Pestana.
The value of pets is embraced by the staff at The Villa at Saint Antoine, she said.
“Our program coordinator sometimes brings her dog to work. He’s a Shih Tzu named Joey,” said Pestana. “The residents call him Joey Boy.
“I bring my dog in sometimes. She’s a terrier mix called Clover,” she said. “The residents remember her and ask, ‘Where’s Clover?’ They know and love the pets we bring in.”
At TriTown Community Action Center in Johnston, Elder Care Case Manager Dina Giarrusso works to connect senior citizens to assisted-living facilities. She’s come across a few communities that accept live-in pets.
“I think pets are wonderful. Even bringing in pets for pet therapy, they give the residents companionship and the love and attention they need,” said Giarrusso, who has worked at Grandview Nursing Home in Cumberland and in assisted-living facilities. She’s seen the response of elderly residents to visiting therapy pets.
“Every time I saw a dog or a cat come in, all of a sudden everybody’s face lit up,” said Giarrusso. “The residents are there all the time, so when a pet comes in, it’s just so nice to see how much they enjoy it. You can just see a change in their demeanor.”
Giarrusso is so enthusiastic about the value of pets for physical and emotional health that she is planning to have her dog, an Australian shepherd mix, trained for pet therapy.
The Village at Waterman Lake in Smithfield currently has nine residents with pets – one cat and the rest dogs, said spokeswoman Jennifer Beauchamp.
“We do let people come in with a small pet and, ideally, they should be able to take care of it,” said Beauchamp. “They’re used to taking care of the pet they brought from home. However, if the pet should pass away, we discourage the purchase of a new one.” Pets at Waterman Village are about evenly divided between residents in independent living and assisted living, and all are individual apartments. Some people contract individually with a dog walker, said Beauchamp.
“We prefer that residents who have pets live on the first floor, so they can take the pet outside,” said Beauchamp.
That’s exactly what resident Jane Brown does with her long-haired dachshund, Maggie May. Brown lives on the first floor and has a system worked out that gives the 18-pound dog plenty of fresh air and exercise.
“It works out nicely here. We have small patios on the first floor and I have French doors out to the patio, and grass and hedge in the back,” Brown told Providence Business News in a phone interview. “I’ve got a 25-foot steel cable with Maggie May’s collar attached. She doesn’t wear it in the house. There’s a tie-down outside at the other end of the cable, so I can put her collar on, open the door and let her outside.”
Brown cleans up after Maggie May and said the community has stations outside with disposable bags for residents to pick up after their dogs, then maintenance staff handles the disposal stations.
For Brown, who retired from working at Bradley Hospital after 40 years, the last 15 as a psychometrist doing psychological and neuropsychological testing, selling her house in Warwick and moving into independent living at Waterman Lake didn’t have to mean the end of her tradition of having long-haired dachshunds.
“When I bought my house in 1979, I got my first long-haired dachshund,” said Brown. “I lived in that house for 30 years and Maggie May is my fourth long-haired dachshund. She was a retirement gift when I left Bradley.
“When I first moved in here, the first week or so, she would cry when I went to meals. I think she was a little disoriented, but after that she was fine,” said Brown. “I made her a bed and the neighbors say they never hear her. She’s a very good dog.” •

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