Hospice director Angelika Behm spoke with REHACARE.com about the sensitive pony lady and her effect on the hospice guests.
Ms. Behm, how come you have these regular animal visits at your facility?
Angelika Behm: We once had a guest who was still quite young and whose disease progressed rapidly. This guest had met his wife at a horse farm and wanted to visit the farm one more time before he died. However, his health had deteriorated to the point where this was no longer possible. But since the family owned their own pony, the idea was to then bring the pony to the hospice – onto the patio and perhaps also into the room through the patio door. Unfortunately, we were not able to do that.
That really started to bother me a lot. As luck would have it, I spoke with my neighbors and told them about this incident. My neighbor then told me about another pony that had already visited a nursing home. The animal’s owner was very interested in visiting another facility. Shortly after that, she called me and we first met without the pony at my office. We talked it through and arranged for it to happen – and this is how it all began.
Did you have any animal visits prior to that at the hospice?
Behm: Since the hospice has been in operation, so for the past 14 years, we have always had dog visits – even now, our poodle Herr Müller comes to visit us regularly. Pets are also welcome at our facility. Quite often, family members bring their dogs or cats along when they visit. Guests can also keep a bird in their room if they like. We already had guests with a canary or a parrot. Having said that, this is only under the stipulation that our nursing staff is not required to take care of the animals. The care for the animals needs to be provided by another source.
And now you have a pony stop by for regular visits. What exactly is pony 13’s job?
Behm: 13 and her owner visit the rooms of the guests who would like a visit from her. The guests are able to approach 13. This typically happens by guests feeding her from a big bowl of cut carrots or by petting her. More than half of our 14 guests love to do this.