Because the dogs are older, they have the perfect temperament to interact with seniors. It is not common for people to adopt older dogs from shelters, so Molly and Ceecee were provided with an opportunity to have a happy and comforting home in their old age. Some of the residents at Sunrise have their own dogs, such as one named Ms. Priss. “Their dogs can become our family as well, for those who don’t have them,” Gaskins says. The residents at Sunrise love to take care of Molly and Ceecee, and Gaskins says many of them are guilty of overfeeding the dogs because they love them so much. “We have almost 80 residents here in the building,” she says. “We have to make sure that we don’t overfeed and over-treat.” Butterball, the trained therapy miniature horse, provides residents with a chance to interact with a different type of therapy animal, and they look forward to her monthly visits. When she visits, the residents usually sit in a circle, and Butterball will go around to take a few moments with each of them. “She’s just trained to know exactly what they need at that moment,” Gaskins says.
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“I’m big on letting strangeness into your work. I tell students to trust themselves, to do their best to shake off doubt and insecurity as they draft, and to be careful not to revise the wildness out of their poems. Read widely. Write whenever and wherever you can. Be bold.”
Learn more about Maggie’s story and other Columbus artists and events at ColumbusMakesArt.com.
Additional support from: The Crane Group and The Sol Morton and Dorothy Isaac, Rebecca J. Wickersham and Lewis K. Osborne funds at The Columbus Foundation.
20 • October/November 2017
Photo: Amy Turn Sharp | Design: Formation Studio
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Multiple Facilities Not all therapy animals in Dublin are for the benefit of a singular location. One well-known traveling animal is Dublin resident Rosie. Rosie is a comfort dog for Atonement Lutheran Church, which purchased her from Lutheran Church Charities K9 Comfort Dog Ministries, a national program based in Chicago. Mary Ludlum is known as Rosie’s Head Dog, or the administrator for her schedule. She says that in the three years Atonement has had Rosie, she has been on more than 1,000 visits. These visits are most often to retirement communities in the area. Rosie visits Abbington Assisted Living twice a month, and she can only make it to the other retirement communities about once every other month because there are so many. An important part of Rosie’s visits, given that she is from a Lutheran church, is prayer. This is something that many seniors look forward to, including one who she recently visited, Ludlum says. “She loves seeing Rosie, but boy, are those prayers important,” she says. Rosie is popular among residents at Friendship Village of Dublin, where she visits about once every other month. Beth Baker, resident services director at www.dublinlifemagazine.com