Joy, laughter, smiles and no shortage of meows.
Those sounds echoed through the common area of Providence Living at The Views in Comox last Thursday as the facility was inundated with kittens, and they’ll be back every week.
The visit was the result of a new partnership between the Cats Society, a Vancouver Island rescue organization, and The Views, a facility that’s already breaking ground as one of B.C.’s first “dementia village” model long-term care homes.
The idea for the initiative came to be after the son of one of The Views’ residents, a board member of the CATS Society, brought his pet to visit and saw an opportunity to share the experience.
The result was the new program that brought a batch of baby felines to clamber, galavant, purr and snuggle with the facility’s residents — and the results were magical.
“We see so much incredible connection, it is like sparks are flying everywhere, to be honest,” Kelly Romeril, The Views’ director of operations, explained.
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“We see people reminiscing about the pets they had throughout their lives, we see people wanting to take them home and adopt them, we see staff members, family members and residents just in pure joy, the giggles, the laughter, you would just not believe it.”
The Views is Canada’s first publicly funded care home based on the dementia village, a European concept that eschews a hospital format and aims to create as much of a home-like environment as possible for residents.
Providence calls the model “Home for Us,” and aims to expand it to all of its long-term care facilities in the long run.
“Part of moving … into a care home is a series of losses sometimes, so any time we can bring some of that joy back, we can bring those moments of connection and spontaneity and push away some of that loss and that boredom, it is a good thing to do and we welcome it,” Romeril said.
As a part of that mission, The Views has integrated the opportunity for animal contact in a variety of ways, welcoming chicks, baby ducks and goats from local hobby farms, along with therapy dogs from St. John Ambulance Canada, and various pets.
Making regular visitors of kittens from the Cats Society is seen as a win-win, providing regular furry contact to residents and giving the young felines an opportunity for human socialization.
“Communication comes in so many ways, it’s not always just about words, and there is something about connecting with another being, whether it is a human or an animal — when the connection happens, it is magical and words really aren’t necessary,” Romeril said.
“And that’s what we see a lot with pet visits, the words are not necessary, the love and the joy that’s there and that’s what matters.”
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