Therapy dog brings plenty of smiles to Rolling Meadows retirement home
Westley visited Rolling Meadows Nursing Home over the past few days and was a big hit with the residents, including, from left, Alberta Harris, Helen Kuczykowski and Wanda Tharp, who enjoyed petting the yellow lab Wednesday afternoon and talking to his owner, Nancy Stockdale.
Nancy Stockdale kneels with her therapy dog Westley while talking to a resident at the Rolling Meadows Nursing Home in Franklin Township.
Nancy Stockdale, left, decided to take her therapy dog to the Rolling Meadows Nursing Home because her husband’s father, Oliver Stockdale, is a resident. She spent time Wednesday with Oliver and his wife, Dixie Stockdale, before taking Westley out to visit other residents.
WAYNESBURG – Westley Samuel Stockdale brought plenty of smiles to the Rolling Meadows Nursing Home with just a few wags of his tail Wednesday afternoon.
The yellow lab therapy dog owned by Nancy and Greg Stockdale strolled the halls of the retirement home in Franklin Township to visit residents and remind them of a time when they had pets of their own.
“You just have to love it,” Nancy Stockdale said. “It makes your day to know how happy you made people. You hear their stories and know it triggers something.”
Her husband, Greg, grew up in Waynesburg, although the couple now lives in Newark Valley, N.Y., near Binghamton. They returned to this area last Thursday to visit with his family for a few days and brought Westley along each day they came to the retirement home to visit Greg’s father, Oliver, who is a resident.
Nancy delivered lunch Wednesday to Greg’s father and brought her mother-in-law, Dixie, to spend time with her husband.
“I know he’s walking around and thinking this smells good,” Oliver said with a laugh as Westley nosed around next to him.
While the couple had a quiet lunch in Oliver’s room, Nancy took Westley for a walk, but the duo, clad in matching blue vests to announce their therapy certification, didn’t make it far without getting bombarded with smiles from residents and workers, along with a handful of pets for the lab.
“He’s so sweet,” said Debbie Hull, an administrative assistant working in the lobby as Westley arrived. “They love him. Look at his tail wagging. Whenever he come in it cheers them up.”
Just a few feet away, he greeted residents Alberta Harris, Helen Kuczykowski and Wanda Tharp as they sat in a community area off the main hallway. Kuczykowski said Westley reminded her of a time when she had her own dog.
“How could you not love him?” Kuczykowski said. “Look at how beautiful.”
Nancy is a member of Paws for Friendship Inc., a nationwide non-profit group that brings therapy dogs to nursing homes and other places where they’re needed. She also involves Westley and their other three labs in competitions and the Bark-9 program near her hometown, which helps children with reading disabilities feel more comfortable reading as they sit with a dog.
Sharon Jeffries, the retirement home’s activities director, said they have had other therapy animals come into building, but don’t do that on a regular basis anymore. She said it’s important to have trained therapy animals such as Westley because it calms the residents and jogs memories that might be lost with age.
“The smiling, the relaxation and the calmness you get with your pet,” Jeffries said. “It shows with the residents, maybe on some more than others. If you’re a pet person, you can’t get rid of that.”
The residents will have more animals to play with when the retirement home’s workers bring in their own dogs for a pet show next Tuesday. Still, even as Westley leaves the area today to head back, it’s clear he stole the show at the retirement home this past week.