Joe Nelson, 65, (pictured with his mother, Merle, 93) plans to donate 20 robotic dogs and cats to Mathison Retirement Community residents.
A Florida man has found a heartwarming way to break the rules this holiday season as US aged care homes continue to implement social distancing restrictions for the safety of their residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Nelson has donated a robotic dog to the aged care facility and hopes to raise enough funds to give 20 more.
“Not everybody has family, or family that can get involved during the holidays,” he said.
“With these, they have somebody there with them that they feel is alive. It’s a pet to them that they can love and care for.”
Mr Nelson donated the first robotic dog last week to the Mathison community – the long-term assisted living facility at which his mother, 93-year-old Merle Nelson, has resided for the past four years.
Believing in the benefits of the life-like lap-size pets by Hasbro, he is hoping to raise at least $2,500 to donate 20 more. The pups and kittens cost around $130 each.
“The residents love the little dog,” said Cindy Eachus, who works at the facility.
“Our first response was to make it a unit pet for Memory Lane (a wing designated for residents with dementia). However, during the COVID environment, we don’t want germs to be passed around.”
Instead, the golden cuddly pup generally sits in the lobby. Ms Eachus said with only one being donated so far “we’re trying to figure out which resident will be best served by it.”
Mr Nelson believes that with the support of the community — and a few famous country singers such as Luke Bryan, who owns a home in Bay County, and Brad Paisley, whose August 25 Facebook video post shows Mathison residents singing one of his songs going viral with more than 9,300 reactions — that 20 pets can be delivered to the facility by Christmas.
As of Monday, the Go Fund Me page Nelson started on November 19 had raised $95, a fraction of how much one pet costs.
“I’m sure if (the entertainers) heard about it, they would generously donate, and then I could get them to other nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Bay County,” Mr Nelson said.
“If I can just get these little dogs and cats to (residents and elderly shut-ins), it will boost their mental state and their longevity.”
As the first holiday season under the pandemic nears, loneliness and depression from being isolated likely will creep into the rooms and apartments of society’s most vulnerable people.
Ms Eachus said, for the safety of residents, her facility will not host any traditional festivities.
“I think that this holiday season some of our residents will be going home with families,” she said.
Other than that, “residents will be getting (Thanksgiving) meals in their apartments.”
Merle Nelson will be one of the fortunate ones.
On Monday, she did not expect to see her 65-year-old son walking down the hallway at Mathison. But, as any mother would, she asked him how he was doing and reached her arms out to embrace him.
“When she saw me, her face lit up,” Mr Nelson said, adding, “she gave me a big hug.”
As a compassionate caregiver, Mr Nelson is authorised to physically interact with his mother. In fact, on Thanksgiving Day, he will be with her preparing a roast dinner at her apartment.
“I will be the only family member that will be able to come in and visit her,” Mr Nelson said, noting his mother does not suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s. “But at least she has me. It’s other people I’m more concerned about.”
“I want to donate as many robotic pets as I can for people who are suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s and those who are alone, depressed, going down mentally and physically — not because of COVID-19 — but because of not having any family to touch or hold,” he said.
“It gives them something to love.”
You can make a contribution to help Mr Nelson raise money to purchase robotic pets to be donated to Mathison Retirement Center, and other assisted living facilities as funds become available, at GoFundMe.com/f/robotic-pets-for-covid-elderly-shutins.
This article first appeared in Panama City News Herald.
