Nurse ensures dog remains in ailing brothers’ lives

When a nurse COLUMBUS — at Grady Memorial Hospital learned that a patient’s dog had been home alone for four days, she knew where to turn forhelp.

“Everybody knows I’m the crazy dog lady,” said Joyce Merrick, also a nurse at the Delaware, Ohio, hospital.

Merrick spoke with the patient, Steve McKenzie. He and his brother, Larry, had both been hospitalized at the same time in December 2016 with multiple chronic issues.

They had left their 7-year-old shepherd mix, Sally, at their Sunbury farmhouse.

“He said he didn’t think they would be in the hospital that long and that they had left out enough food and water,” Merrick said, “But I was pretty upset with him, and he ended up giving me the keys to their house.”

Merrick found Sally frantic and flea-ridden. She took her to the Delaware County Humane Society for medication and treatment.

Sally spent six days there. Then, with the McKenzie brothers still hospitalized, Merrick took the dog to live wither her and her husband, Willy, in their rural Delaware County home.

That Merrick, 52, was willing to go to such lengths to help wasn’t a surprise to those whoknowher.

“She’s a very compassionate person just in general,” said Angela Harvey, clinical nurse manager of the inten- sive-care unit at Grady. “She’s like the mother figure to a lot ofthen urses here. She’s very nurturing and goes above and beyond.”

Merrick, also a longtime volunteer at the Humane Society, devotes almost every Thursday to helping with the sur- geries there.

Shehadplannedtofoster Sally until the brothers were healthy, but Sally proved to be a challenge.

S he had lived her entire life constantly around people: Steve and Larry and their father, Elmon, who died last year.

The Merricks quickly learned they couldn’t leave Sally alone.

“I came home o nedayand the curtains were torn off the wall,” Mrs. Merrick said. “She had shredded the comforter on the bed, and she didn’t know where to use the restroom. It was bad.”

Sally also became upset and aggressive around other dogs.

“There were times I thought, ‘Ican’tw ait to give her back,’ ” Mr. Merrick said.

Meanwhile, the McKenzie brothers learned that they aren’t ever going back to their old home. Steve, 53, has rheumatoid arthritis and uses a wheelchair; Larry, 55, is legally blind.

They ended up in the hospital because they weren’t able to take care of themselves independently. When they got out of the hospital, then, they were placed in a rehabilitation center in Centerburg, in Knox County.

Merrick had a decision to make. If she placed Sally up for adoption, the brothers wouldn’t see her again.

If she and her husband adopted the dog, though, she could continue to take Sally to visit the McKenzies.

She discussed it with the brothers, who agreed that the Merricks should adopt her.

“They were realistic,” Mrs. Merrick said. “They told me: ‘You’re part of Sally’s fam- ily. She just has a bigger family now.’ ”

Just a month or so before Sally entered their lives, the Merricks had lost their dog, Carmen, to kidney failure. They didn’t think they were ready for another dog so soon, but Sally changed their minds.

When properly medicated and trained, she is a sweet, affectionate companion.

“When we put our dog down, we were devastated,” Mrs. Merrick said. “But I always say, ‘When one door closes, another opens,’ and we would not have been able to help Sally if we still had another dog.”

About once a month, Mrs. Merrick loads Sally into her car for the 40-mile round trip to Centerburg.

On a recent visit, Sally grew excited as soon as she saw her former owners, wagging her tail and jumping up on both Larry and Steve as they sat out- side the rehab center.

“We m i ss her , and she misses us, too,” Larry said. “We just thank J oyceforta king care of her.”

Mr. Merrick said hi s wife makes the effort not out of obligation but out of caring.

“It’ s not a ch o re to her,” he said .“Welovedogs,and we put ourselves in their (the McKenzies’) shoes. To have a dog taken away from yo u— that is your family; it brings ateartoyoureye.

“She’s going to do everything she can to make sure that dog is stil labigpartof their lives.”

Mrs. Merrick said that she and the McKenzie brothers are “joined at the hip.”

“They know I love Sally as much as they do. I made a commitment to them, and I’m not turning back.”

With its LOS ANGELES — bright pink exterior and white picket fence, the Vanderpump Dog Rescue Center, one of entrepreneur and reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump’s latest ventures, is hard to miss, especially if the “Real Housewive sofBeve rly Hills” costar and her husband’s white Rolls-Royce is parked out front.

“Itwasacoupleofyears ag othatwegot involved in the pet business,” Vanderpump, 56, said durin gavi sit to the rescue center, which opened this year.

“Housewives” fans know Vanderpump — who also st ars in Bravo TV’s “Vanderpump Rules” — and her husband, Ken Todd, are passionate about dogs. The couple and their venture partner, John Sessa, have been raising awareness for the canine kind through the Vanderpump Dog Foundation, which was founded in 2016 and will hold its second annual gala on Nov. 9.

Vanderpump, who has eight dogs hersel f,s aid she wanted to create a center where people could volunteer, get pet grooming servicesorspend time with — or adopt — dogs.

The rescue center sells dog treats, food, clothes and accessories, and 100 percent of proceeds are donated back to the c enter and its programs. Vanderpump, who has restaurants in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, including Pump, said her welldressed dog, Giggy, inspired the center.

The other reason was less glamorous. Vanderpump learned about the annual Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in Yulin, China, where reportedly 10,000 dogs are killed and eaten.

Vanderpump is working on a documentary about the dog festival and hopes the project reac hes a wide audience.

“When you have celebrity — and I use that term loosely … I think it comes with responsibility to draw attention to causes that are important to you,” she said.