Robotic pets generating love at Welland extended care unit
Maryann Simko’s eyes lit up as she walked into the room and saw Ginger.
The cat let out a meow and purred with every touch, as the Welland hospital extended care unit patient sat down. Ginger eventually rolled over for a belly rub.
“Oh, hi Ginger,” said Simko, smiling.
One can see Simko calmly playing with the cat — petting and talking to her pet, doting on the mass of white and orange fur.
The thing is, though, Ginger isn’t really a cat at all; she may meow like one, purr like one and react to the touch of humans, but Ginger is actually a robot. Ginger is a Hasbro joy companion, bought by Simko’s family, to complement three similar robotic cats and two robotic dogs being used at the unit as companions for the patients there.
“It purrs, it rumbles, the tail moves, everything,” said programs manager Lezlie Leduc, explaining how the cats and dogs are a hit with patients in the unit.
Some, she said, can’t even tell the difference between the robots and the real thing.
Leduc said the hospital has long had therapy pets in to visit, as a way to cheer and calm the residents spending months and years in the wing. Real cats and dogs, however, come with responsibilities: they have to be fed, and perhaps more importantly, cleaned up after.
“We can’t have real animals here all the time,” said Leduc, explaining how the relatively cheap Hasbro pets — they cost roughly $130 — allow for the comfort of a pet for residents without the mess and responsibility.
“It provides them with this comfort, companionship and joy,” said Leduc, adding residents can often be found throughout the unit with one of the pets on their laps.
“They are always being used,” she said, noting that some families have purchased robotic cats specifically for their loved ones in the unit after seeing the impact they have had on well-being.
Simko’s family did just that; her husband Edward can’t praise the impact of her robotic cat, Ginger, enough.
“She’s always got a smile on her face,” said Edward, adding the cat follows his wife around the unit, often perched atop her walker.
“Those cats go everywhere,” he said with a laugh.
For people with dementia, such as Simko, the calming aspect can be critical as the disease can include bouts of fear and confusion.
“It’s very calming,” said Leduc, pointing to one man who sat quietly watching television, petting the cat on his lap. The robotic pet has helped him immensely in transitioning to the ECU, she said.
“He only came just last week, and for him it has been so helpful,” said Leduc, who believes that the pets draw on instinctual human emotions that never leave, even with the onset of dementia.
“That instinctual behaviour of love never leaves,” she said.