It is said that by staring at fish swimming around in a fish tank, one’s blood pressure drops. The same thing is said about being around animals. Animals have the ability to calm our nerves. They make us happy. They refocus our thoughts. And they help us to get healthy, mind, body and spirit.
Earlier this week, ECMC hosted a “Therapeutic Mini-Horse Visit”. The miniature horses were brought right into the hospital, where patients were able to interact with them. The special visit brought a lot of smiles to the faces of those who were looking for some good news to walk in through the front door. This particular bundle of good news happened to walk into the Nursing facilities in the Centers Health Care on four legs. Centers Health Care sponsored the ECMC visit.
The therapeutic visit was considered a big success, and will hopefully lead to other animal visits in the future. For some people, there is nothing more enjoyable than being able to pet and hug animals. Unfortunately, hospitals are often times the last place that anyone would ever expect an encounter of this nature.
Let’s give a hand (or a paw) to ECMC for stepping up and thinking about how patients would react to a visit from these lovely creatures. Instead of saying “neigh” to the idea, they opened their minds and their doors to the animals, thus soothing the souls of their appreciative patients.