Wearing a Halloween costume to work is not just for humans anymore. Canine companions of staff members recently flaunted outfits running the gamut from pirate attire to a full Elvis getup, at the Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.
It was easy to set up given the community’s penchant for holiday parades, said Gurwin Director of Therapeutic Recreation Nicole Hopper.
“Since we also do a parade for a fashion show, we thought we’d kind of take a spin to a regular, human costume contest and bring in the dogs to just bring smiles to all of our residents’ faces,” Hopper explained. “The assistant director of therapeutic recreation made a song playlist so each dog also had their own soundtrack as they were walking down the aisle, which made it extra fun.”
Hosted in the facility’s Rainbow Room, viewers needed to stand on two legs to catch the action in a packed house. There was no shortage of energy and no shortage of adorable matching costumes.
“The doors were kind of bursting at the seams in the Rainbow Room,” Hopper said. “We had Bella [a dog] who was in an Incredibles costume. What stood out about her was that her owner also dressed up as an Incredible so they had matching costumes. As soon as they walked into the Rainbow Room, everybody was clapping and laughing and smiling. You could just feel the energy in the room when they walked in.”
Aside from being a raucous celebration, the event also served a therapeutic purpose for many residents. Hopper says many were pet owners before moving into Gurwin so they especially appreciated the love from their new four-legged friends.
“Once the parade was over, each dog went around to each resident and actually gave them one-on-one time so they could pet the dog, have the dog sit on their lap, which just made all the residents happy. Pet therapy is just so important in general. It’s proven to lower blood pressure or lower anxiety and increased mood overall. So we really just try to bring in pets at any time.”
The parade might be over but the connections formed between residents and dogs suggest that more playtime is on the horizon. Life certainly has its ups and downs but it is hard to be upset when a pooch dressed like a shark is sitting in your lap.
“One of our dogs, Duke, is actually one of the staff members [Lauren] from Therapeutic Recreation’s dog and she noticed one of the residents was so happy during the dog parade,” said Hopper. “This resident has been kind of down and feeling a little depressed since they’ve been here for rehab. So Lauren noticed that the resident was also becoming down and a little depressed again, since the dog parade so she actually brought Duke in again today to uplift that resident.
“The dog parade wasn’t just one day,” she adds. “It’s lasting weeks and months.”
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
