Grantham Care Home Welcomes Back Pets For National Dog Day

A Lincolnshire care home is delighted to bring back staff member’s pets to its home after a long 15 months without such warm and calming activities.

Red Court Care Community on St Edmunds Court in Grantham has been working with its activities co-ordinator Andrea Mccartney and her daughter Stacey to bring friendly, four-legged companionship back to the home. It has been an extremely difficult to incorporate external activities into daily life at the home during the pandemic and being reunited with pets has brought tremendous joy to everyone at Red Court.

The staff and residents spent the morning cuddling four-year-old, CJ the black Labrador, and his presence created such a calming environment for all who participated in the session. Pet therapy can improve residents’ mental health, increase socialisation and provide comfort. It can also have an astonishing impact on residents’ physical health as spending time with pets is proven to reduce blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health.

Lin Amos, general manager at Red Court Care Community said: “It was fantastic having CJ with us on Thursday, he made everyone feel safe and because it has been such a long time since we’ve had a dog come to Red Court, it was a blessing to all of our residents. It was also a great treat for the team, there were plenty of cuddles to go around.”

“Our residents really bonded with CJ and in the past our pet therapy sessions have always been one of our favourite activities. Many of our residents are animal lovers and have had pets their whole lives. It’s fantastic that the physical benefits of pet therapy are just as powerful as the psychological benefits, which are evident amongst our residents.”