Pet Visitor Program

Tucker greets Theresa Harned, an aide in our residencePets and their owners volunteer through the Cornell Companions program, a public service through Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. They make visits to the residence at the Nina K. Miller Hospicare Center three or four times a week to shower affection on patients, families, and staff members.

Research has shown that spending time with animals can provide emotional and physical benefits. Some studies have shown that pet owners tend to have lower blood pressure and cholesterol rates and are more likely to survive a heart attack. Pet owners also report less loneliness and lower rates of depression.

Moments of happiness

“Sometimes people want to talk,” says Dalva Hedlund, a volunteer who comes every week with his dogs. “Often they just pet the dogs.”

Illy, a poodle-Maltese mix, visits a patientHedlund and Joyce Roenfeldt, who visits with her chocolate lab, Tucker, say they can see people’s spirits brighten when the pets visit.

Roenfeldt says she thinks the animals allow people to express their feelings in a way that they can’t always do around people. “The family needs me as much as patients,” she says. “Emotionally, it’s a break from what they are going though.”

“For me, the reward is the obvious moments of happiness people experience when the dogs are there,” Hedlund says. “And the message - that moments of joy are what life is all about - just gets repeated visit after visit.”