Hi, fellow volunteers,
As usual, the ID residents are wonderful hosts who always express happiness and
joy in seeing us. The visit was very well attended. My heartfelt thanks to the
following volunteers for their time and effort in giving and sharing with the ID
residents the love and therapeutic value of their PAT dogs
Helen Lea with Rosie / Labrador Retriever
Fiona Yeo with JJ & Mei Mei / JKR
Mak Mun San with Flash / English Springer Spaniel
Elaine Lui, mum Soo Fen & dad Tuck Yew with Polar / Samoyed
Marjory Yeoh & hubby Shing Tai with Snowball / Great Prynea
Beautrice Wong with Skippy/ Silky Terrier
Eunice Wang & Kelvin with Baileys / Shetland Sheepdog
Say Hoon - Helping Hand
Mabel Ho with Silky / Golden Retriever
Charlie Ho with Stallion / GSD
Please join me in welcoming the first timer Marjory Yeoh & hubby Shing Tai and
Snowball to BHID. They interacted very well with the ID residents. Snowball is
like a seasonal canine PAT volunteer and he earned yummy treats plus lots of
pats and hugs and massages.
Lui Tuck Yew continued faithfully the AAT activity targeted the same group of
residence and a few new ones. The memory card game is simple but an effective
tool to help the residence to improve their memory skills. I could hear laughter
and clapping hands when they got it right and felt a sense of achievement. Say
Hoon continued the game with another group of residents. Thank you, Tuck Yew &
Say Hoon.
Christmas is just around the corner. Christmas is for joy, for giving and
sharing, for laughter, for coming to-gether with family and friends ... it is
this love for which you, our valued volunteers, I hope, will come to BHID
together with your dogs and family to spread the Christmas joy with the ID
residents. Our December visit to BHID falls on 26th Dec. Therefore, please mark
your calendar for this special PAT visit as we plan to have fun with the
residence.
Have a happy and blessed week ahead
Warmest regards
Charlie Ho
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Visit on 27
November 2009 - MINDSville
-- No November Visit ---
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Visit on 20
November 2009 -
Sunshine Welfare Action Mission Home (SWAMI)
Hi, fellow volunteers,
We had a very small team of 5 helping hands and 4 healing paws continue its
monthly visit to SWAMI Home. As usual, the dementia residents were seated
patiently awaiting our arrival and welcomed us warmly. Our one hour there was
very productive as we started immediately walking exercise with the dogs and we
wasted little time moving with our dogs among the dementia residents. They
enjoyed very much taking the dog for a walk without much encouragement and
persuasion ... Stallion enjoyed it too but not the elderly handler like me who
had to go so many rounds to meet the demands.
PAT session at this home focussed very much on physiotherapy and communication.
The dementia residents who interacted first with the dog and then started to
communicate with the handler. I encouraged them to remember stories of their
family and/or their own dog though their memory is failing, they could recount
the stories to me.
My heartfelt thanks to the small PAT team who came and helped make this visit
such great fun
Melinda Ann Michael with Chewy / Catacan Sheepdog & Cleo / Dachshund
Mabel Ho and grand-daughter Sarah with Silky / Golden Retriever
Radhir Nanesh - Helping Hand
Charlie Ho with Stallion / GSD
As you have been receiving the regular reports on the TDS visits, you will
fully aware that, as a registered volunteer who passionately believe in our
course, we have been doing meaningful work among residents of health
institutions and homes that we visit, I hope you will make an effort to come and
join us to bring cheers to the PAT recipients. They appreciate our visits very
much.
Have a nice and blessed week ahead.
Warmest regards
Charlie Ho
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Visit on 15 November
2009 -
Ward 66A Institute of Mental Health (IMH)
Dear Fellow Volunteers,
Sorry for the late report. Thanks to our regular team of TDS volunteers, the
residents at IMH ward 66B had quite a nice time on 15 November 2009. Although
there was a little hiccup at the beginning, I think everything went on well in
the end.
1. Amanda Richardson with Tixi (GSD)
2. Charlie with Stallion (GSD) and Silky (Golden Retriever)
3. Janice Ho and Sharon with Zechy (Labrador)
4. Soo Fen with Polar (Samoyed)
5. Lishan and father, Shum Chin Yang with McMug (JRT)
As usual our volunteers and their faithful companions interacted with the
residents and bought laughter and comfort to them. Our human volunteers listened
to them as they talked about their life, or troubles and our dogs with their
different personality brought comfort and laughter to them. One of the residents
although afraid of touching the dog, enjoyed herself when she took one of our
dogs for a walk around the room.
As seen in the list, there is only one small size dog in our visiting group and
some of the residents do miss carrying the small dogs or patting them on their
laps. We do hope to see some of our little doggie volunteers in our future
visit. Of course, the big doggie friends presence are very much appreciated as
well.
Let's look forward to our next visit and enjoy the rest of the week :)
Best Regards,
Lishan
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Visit on
14 November 2009- Bethany Methodist Nursing Home (BMNH)
Hi everyone
It was a very small 'die-hard' core group of volunteers that made the visit to
BMNH on Saturday 14 Nov. With only 4 volunteers and 3 dogs, we were fortunate to
have 2 observers and 2 church members of Covenant Community Methodist Church,
together with Dorothy of BMNH, join us in bringing cheer to our friends at
Bethany. I could sense that the residents were disappointed to see so few dogs,
and some even asked what happened to those dogs they remembered from previous
visits. Fortunately we brought some tea time treats for them, which they
enjoyed.
For the record, we had
1. Charlie Ho with Stallion/GSD
2. Mabel Ho with Silky/Golden Retriever
3. Elaine Lui and mum Soo Fen with Polar/Samoyed
Observers Marjory and Shing Tai took the opportunity to chat with a few of the
residents. They have since got Snowball, their Great Pyrenees, tested and we
really look forward to having them on board.
We certainly hope to see more commitment of our volunteers to meet the target of
minimum of 4 visits in 6 months to at least 1 home. Our stand remains -- a
wonderful therapy dog cannot do its work unless it is brought by a dedicated
human volunteer. We need to be regular in our visits in order to build
relationships with the residents and see the benefits of pet assisted therapy
over time. We have, over the past years and months, turned down numerous
requests for pet assisted therapy from various homes. Unless we increase our
pool of committed volunteers, we will not be able to meet the huge need for pet
therapy.
We look forward to seeing more of you in the upcoming visits. Have a blessed
week ahead!
Cheers
Soo Fen
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Visit on 13
November 2009 - Thong Teck Home for Senior Citizens (TTHSC)
Hi, fellow volunteers,
We had a very small team of volunteers to TTHSC ... come rain or shine we met up
with great enthusiasm and spent quality time with the elderly residents. I was
told that many residents kept asking the home's staff when our therapy dogs will
be visiting and when we finally did, they reached out for the dogs ... stretched
their hands and arms to pat the dogs - or even hugged them.
Many thanks to the following volunteers for your time and efforts in brining joy
and happiness to the elderly
Alicia Isreal with Diva & Magic / Labrador Retriever
Denise Ting with Camie / Pomeranian
Doris Chang - Helping Hand
Mabel Ho with Silky / Golden Retriever
Charlie Ho with Stallion / GSD
From our experience, regular visits from you and your dog,
we can help the elderly residents feel less lonely, less depressed and provide
stimulation for conversation. As you are registered volunteer with TDS, I
believe you are prepared to make commitment to bring companionship and joy to
the less privileged. I therefore look forward to seeing each of you in our
upcoming weekday or weekend visits.
Have a happy and blessed week ahead.
Warmest regards
Charlie Ho
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Visit on 6
November 2009 -
Asian Women's Welfare Association Special
School for Children (AWWA)
Dera Volunteers
Our visit with AWWA last Friday was greeted with squeals of excitement and
laughter. It was simply heartening to see the joy on the children's faces. As
another year goes by we will miss the children that are moving and welcome new
ones next year :-)
My wish for those children that are moving on is......... keep up the spirit and
stay positive!!
My heartfelt thank you to the kind volunteers who shared their precious time to
enrich the children's life,even if it was for only one hour. REMEMBER A LITTLE
LOVE GOES A LONG WAY.....
THANK YOU TO.....
-Alicia Israel with Magic & Diva( Lab Retriever)
-Mabel Ho with Silky (Golden Retriever)
- Charlie Ho with Stallion (GSD)
-Melinda Michael with Cleo (Mini long hair Daschund) & Chewbaca (Catalan
Sheepdog)
- Gwen Wong with Chou Chou (Chow Chow)
-Rachel Foo with Haru (Yorkshire Terrier)
- Radha Nagesh-our much needed helping hand :o)
Please always check out our website www.tdspore.org for the latest details of
our next visit
Till we meet again,
Have a lovely week
Melinda
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