One of my coworkers has a blue heeler that comes to the nursing home with her from time to time to visit and brighten the day of the patients. He plays fetch with them and has a special dog water bottle that has a sideways bowl built into the lid. He also allows residents to pet him and it helps with their depression and blood pressure. Our trusty blue heeler buddy recently welcomed a little brother into his home in the form of a corgi. He’s not sure if he likes him yet as he’s getting all of mom’s attention at the moment but he’s found himself twinning with the little dude for Halloween in order to brighten the day of the residents. They were the cutest little dragons ever to arrive in a patient’s doorway, especially the fact that one of them was in a stroller.
I wore a cheetah tail and a headband with cheetah ears glued onto it, allowing me to retain my scrubs so i could have pockets for functional work purposes. There was a handful of other people that dressed up for the day as well. We had a little party for the residents with cupcakes and cookies. It was pretty low-key and benign. The thing most people dont think about when they set up halloween decorations of vampires, tombstones, and skeletons is that halloween is a very confusing time for dementia patients in particular. We try to keep the decorations more “fall harvest” themed so everybody has a good time.
