Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/puppy-at-nursing-home/
A nursing home just hired an adorable golden retriever puppy named Gracie. Her job is to bring happiness and joy to the senior residents.
The 3-month-old pup was “hired” in March by the Good Samaritan Society – Scotland, a nursing home based in Scotland, South Dakota.
According to a post shared by the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, Gracie’s role in the facility is to bring “happiness and joy to residents and staff.”
So far, it seems that Gracie is doing her job beautifully. In an interview with Good Morning America, the social services manager of the facility, Pam Stewart, said, “We’ve seen a lot of changes since she’s come. We’ve seen a lot of smiles, cuddles. It’s giving them a lot to talk about versus what they’ve seen in the world.”
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Gracie initially began working in her role as joy meister when she was adopted by Stewart, who decided to take the little pup to work with her. According to ABC News, Gracie began to accompany Stewart to work and residents quickly fell in love with her.
Gracie spends most of her time at the nursing home cuddling with residents and getting all of the pets and scratches her little heart desires. She provides comfort and joy to around 30 senior citizens per day. Of course, Gracie doesn’t do visits alone, instead, she’s always accompanied by a staff member to ensure the visits are happy, safe, and positive.
Many senior citizens feel lonely and isolated. These feelings have only increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Gracie is helping take an edge off the pain. As such, the senior citizens always welcome Gracie’s presence and appreciate getting to be physically close with her.
As it turns out, Gracie isn’t the first dog to greet the residents of the Good Samaritan Society – Scotland. They previously had a resident dog named Hope who was a big hit with the residents, but she passed away back in November.
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It’s great that they finally have a dog again, especially to help get through these trying times!
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
