Angels Among Us Pet Hostel

Testimonials

Our first placement was "Kiko". He's a young vibrant yellow lab mix that was orginally a rescue dog. His human mom was diagnosed with cancer and during her treatments was unable to care for Kiko. Her brother contacted us, explaining he could not keep Kiko in his apartment. We arranged for foster care, and we are happy to tell you, Kiko is now home with mom and she is doing much better. Your donations made this possible.

A page came in. It was an advocate at the Council on Aging. She had a woman that had been admitted to the hospital and needed to go to rehab. When the woman was taken to the hospital, her 14 year-old beagle was placed in a kennel. The woman refused to enter rehab, until she knew the dog had been taken out of the kennel and placed in a loving foster care home. The problem, she was scheduled to move to rehab the next morning.
A massive email was sent to our many support people, and within 15 minutes, we had someone who wanted to take this lovely 14 year-old, four-legged lady into their home.

At the last minute, a family member offered to take the dog, but not knowing how that will work out; the lines of communication are still open for fostering.

(The names have been changed for anonymity)

The Angels Among Us Pet Hostel flyer had been hanging on my bulletin board for several months. I thought it a wonderful concept, but couldn’t really imagine myself utilizing it as a provider at the Medical Center.

One Friday afternoon this past spring, I saw an older woman named Sarah in the clinic for the first time. Her pain was out of control, and she required hospital admission. Sarah resisted admission because there was no one at home to care for her dog, Molly. Remembering the AAUPH flyer I had been looking at for months, I called the number and prayed someone could help. My heart sank when I got an answering machine……it was mid afternoon on a Friday. How was I going to connect with someone at this late hour of the week? Sarah was adamant that she was not going to consent to admission because of Molly.

In what seemed like almost no time, I received a call back from AAUPH. In the time it took me to do the necessary preparations to admit Sarah to the hospital, someone from AAUPH was already mobilizing to retrieve Molly at Sarah’s home 25 miles away.

Molly was in sad shape. Sarah was barely able to care for herself physically and financially, let alone take care of Molly who had several medical problems needing immediate veterinary care. The AAUPH volunteers (I might add here that they are all volunteers), not only took Molly in one of their homes, but paid for Molly’s veterinary care and medications.

When Sarah was discharged from the hospital a few days later, the AAUPH volunteer fostering Molly offered to keep her a while longer to let Sarah get settled, but Sarah wanted Molly back immediately. Concerned that Molly would not get her medications, the AAUPH volunteer was able to work collaboratively with the visiting nurses who were caring for Sarah. The nurses were willing to monitor how Molly was doing when they visited Sarah and make sure she did not run out of medications. When she did, they continued to buy the medications to make sure Molly was well cared for.

Unfortunately Sarah’s health declined further and I received a call late one afternoon informing me that the visiting nurses were making arrangements for Sarah to be admitted to DHMC again because she was no longer able to care for herself. They wanted to know if someone could retrieve Molly because the expectation was that Sarah would not return home. Before Sarah was tucked into her bed at DHMC, Molly had been retrieved again and was safely in what turned out to be her new forever home.

Being a dog lover myself and owned by my own pack of dogs, I know of the bond between a person and their dog. In a situation that could not remain as it was and end happily, the AAUPH volunteers were sensitive to Sarah’s love for Molly, knowing that the living arrangement Molly was returning to when Sarah was discharged from the hospital was not one she would thrive in. They stretched their call to duty, paying for Molly’s medications and veterinary care as well as taking pains to assure continued proper care for Molly while she was living with Sarah. When things fell apart for Sarah, they were there immediately to rescue Molly once again. Sarah is now getting the care she needs and Molly has found another older woman to love and who loves her back..

Thank you Angels Among Us Pet Hostel volunteers for your time, your love and your devotion to the animals.

Paula Caron ARNP

Section of Palliative Medicine

DHMC