Tail-Wagging Aloha

By Denise Laitinen

Sydney Andrade’s face lights up when I walk into his room, but it’s not me that he’s excited to see. It’s my companion Clancy. A pit bull mix I adopted from the Hawai‘i Island Humane Society’s Kea‘au shelter, Clancy has a new life as a therapy dog at the Yukio Okutsu State Veteran’s Home in Hilo. Clancy and my shepherd/retriever mix, Declan, have been coming to the Veteran’s Home every Sunday for over a year. Visiting Andrade’s room is a regular part of the routine.

“He really does like dogs,” says Andrade’s wife, Dorothy. “He worked on ranches, so he was always around dogs,” she explains. Originally from Na’alehu, Andrade has been at the facility for three years, since suffering a stroke. Although bedridden, he becomes animated when Clancy is around, petting him and using pet treats in a game of hide-and-seek with the dog.

The 95-bed Hilo Veteran’s Home, named after Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Yukio Okutsu (a member of the famed 442nd Regiment Combat Team in World War II) is the only state-run veteran’s home in Hawai‘i. Located next to Hilo Medical Center on Waianuenue Avenue in Hilo and managed by Avalon Health Care, the Veteran’s Home provides a variety of services, including long-term care, adult heath care, rehabilitation therapies, hospice, and respite care. Pets have been an integral part of the recreation program since the facility opened in 2007, largely due to the efforts of Recreational Director Momi Snyder.

“I’ve been working in nursing homes for 30 years,” says Snyder, “and I’ve incorporated pets into every home I’ve worked in.”

“When we first started the pet therapy program, we asked the families of the residents if they had pets they wanted to bring to the Home. Many residents had pets when they lived at home and missed them now that they reside at the facility. That expanded into having staff and volunteers bring in pets to visit our residents.”

From the look on Andrade’s face, it’s clear that animals have a positive effect on the folks who live here.

Currently, the pet therapy program includes cats, dogs, and a rabbit that visit the veterans on a regular basis. Several more pets are brought in by residents’ family members. The Veteran’s Home has natural landscaping around the facility, as well as enclosed private gardens, so residents can walk the dogs and feel like they’re walking in a park.

Snyder schedules pet visits on different days of the week in order to maximize the number of animal visits the residents receive, while preventing any conflicts between animals at the same time.

While dogs and cats do not need special training to join the pet therapy program, it’s a given that the animals need to be well behaved. Pet owners must show proof that their pet has been immunized. Before entering the pet therapy program, a pet and its owner meet with Snyder to ensure the animal has a pleasant temperament and is a good fit with the residents.

“One of the most important things to residents in a nursing home is to have a home-like setting. To make it feel more like home, it’s important to incorporate children, pets, and plants,” explains Snyder. “Animals bring unconditional love. You can have an agitated person, but when they pet an animal, they calm down and relax.”

That reaction is one of the reasons Vashael Kiyojima of Hilo got involved in the pet therapy program. “I noticed kids and pets bring a smile to residents’ faces,” say Kiyojima, who has worked at the Veteran’s Home for two years as a transporter and a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA). “Most of the residents used to have pets but they’re not allowed to have them here, so they get lonely.”

She brings her two dogs, Toki and Hana, nearly every Saturday. Toki, a 6-month-old Lhasa Apso/Pomeranian mix, and Hana, a year-old female Chihuahua/terrier mix, bring fun, comfort and companionship to the elders. On occasion, Kiyojima also brings her rabbit Butterscotch for visits.

“When I bring Butterscotch, one of the residents mimics the rabbit moving his nose,” she says. “It’s so cute. People think I’m nuts because I come in on my day off, but it makes the residents happy.”

Pet visits are a big deal and Kiyojima dresses the small dogs in sweaters and dresses to add a touch of festivity to the pet visits.

“Hana has a whole wardrobe of outfits,” she says, “but Toki is still growing, so I’m waiting until he gets bigger before I buy him more outfits.” For Halloween, she dressed Toki as Spiderman.

Kiyojima, who has had animals most of her life, has brought both dogs to visit the Home since they were puppies. “I’ve been bringing him since he was old enough to have his shots,” says Kiyojima of Toki.

She even got input from the residents when naming her dogs. “I asked the residents for names for my dogs and they gave me a whole list,” she chuckles. For the Lhasa Apso, she decided on the name Toki, which means time of opportunity in Japanese, and she named the Chihuahua Hana, Japanese for flower.

“She’s a cute dog,” says Leetham Gafkowski as she looks at Hana sitting on Kiyojima’s lap. Lee, as she likes to be called, and her friend and fellow resident, Geinso Wakayama, of Waimea, readily warm up to the dogs, petting and talking to them.

While the pet therapy program is very popular with the majority of the residents, it’s not for everyone. Not every resident likes pets and that’s okay. Some people may have had a negative experience with a dog and don’t want to interact with them. Others may have allergies and physically can’t be around pets. The recreation staff ensures that visiting pets only interact with people who like animals.

Wallace Watanabe is one of those people. He starts smiling and calling to Clancy as soon as the dog walks into the recreation room. Clancy approaches with his tail wagging, happy to see the elderly gentleman.

“Just look at him smile,” says Kiyojima about Watanabe as he pats Clancy. Watanabe is clearly thrilled to see the large dog, and Clancy loves getting the attention.

Often times, as the residents pat the dogs, they’ll share stories about their pets or themselves. Born and raised on Maui, Watanabe reminisces about a German shepherd he used to own and how the dog would run around in his yard in Kula.

Watanabe, like other residents, is also very curious about the dogs that visit the facility, asking questions about the dog’s breed, age, and eating habits. People are often surprised to learn that Clancy is part pit bull. “The name pit bull kind of frightens you,” says Watanabe as he pats Clancy. “But he [Clancy] is a regular dog to me. He’s a nice dog, very friendly.”

“I think it’s a good program,” says Snyder. Judging from the happy smiles on the residents’ faces when they visit with the pets, I think she’s right.

For more information on how you and your pet can volunteer with the pet therapy program at Yukio Okutsu State Veteran’s Veteran’s Home, call Recreation Director Momi Snyder at 961-1523. ❖

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Contact Denise Laitinen at wahineokekai@yahoo.com.