Lively pets, happy vets
It’s been over a year since Diana Wise started her campaign to “Share the Love” and bring the joy and comfort of robotic companion pets to Yumans with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Through her partnership with the Western Arizona Council of Governments (WACOG), Wise has been able to present the lifelike pets to various assisted living facilities and most recently, the new Arizona State Veteran Home in Yuma.
On Tuesday, Jan. 31, Wise presented a robotic kitty and puppy to the home and was met with delight from Robert Schellenberg, a 73-year-old Marine veteran.
“Bob was amazed with these animals,” she said. “He’s not in a memory care unit but what was amazing was to see is how much he interacted with them, you know? When we left, he said, ‘I hope you’re not taking these back because I’m already attached to them.’ The staff loved them.”
Wise has found the work to be fulfilling: “It’s still a healing process but I get so much gratification; my heart is filled.”
The cause is close to her heart. Wise started looking to help others in honor of her mother, Helen Espinoza, when she passed away in November 2020 from COVID-19 complications. Espinoza had been living in a memory care unit at an assisted living facility and because of COVID, Wise hadn’t been able to visit her regularly like she used to for eight months. When she saw her mother again, she found that everything about her had changed.
Wise understood too well the negative effects of social isolation on seniors with conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia. When Carol Brown of WACOG conducted some research on ways to help memory care patients and mentioned the benefits of robotic companion pets to Wise, she was all in. And that’s how the partnership to bring these pets to Yuma’s memory care patients began.
Diana Wise and WACOG have been donating robotic pets from Joy for All, which come in cat and dog forms. They have heartbeats, can purr or lick, meow or bark, move and respond to motion, voice and touch. And they can be muted too. Because they’re robotic, the pets come without the risks of caring for a living creature while still providing comfort.
Through fundraising and donations, WACOG’S distributed pets to various facilities since the initiative began in 2021. Wise has also presented pets to Emerald Springs Senior Living and now the Arizona State Veteran Home in Yuma.
Progress is always ongoing: Diana Wise joined the Arizona Community Foundation in presenting a check of $1,558 to WACOG in October 2022 and has also helped present about the program to rotary clubs in Yuma – one of which also donated $500 to the cause. Since each pet costs over $120 and also needs rechargeable batteries, raising funds to donate more animals has been a priority. But getting the word out about robotic companion pets is also a top priority.
“I think what I’m seeing is it helps not only for dementia and things like that with the memory care unit,” Wise said. “The other day (at the veteran home) was more like just the fun of social interaction is what I could see that they also benefit from. We’re hearing great things from Emerald that the memory care loves them and the only thing they have is they just have to say at the end of the day, ‘You know they need to go take a nap’ and just where they can share the animal.
“I did hear with Emerald that they were looking at purchasing more. So the main thing was for memory care and just to help them, but [the point is also] to get the word out about these. There’s a lot of people that don’t know about these and I could see more of these places purchasing more and seeing what the benefits are with them.”
Wise is excited to continue donating more pets to assisted living facilities and witnessing firsthand the excitement on residents’ faces. To help with her cause, she hopes community members will spread the word about how robotic pets can help memory care patients and seniors struggling with social isolation.
Donations also continue to be accepted. Since Diana Wise’s foundation is now closed, checks can be presented or mailed to WACOG, 1235 S. Redondo Center Drive, Yuma AZ 85365, ATTN: Carol Brown Companion Pet Donation Program.