4 Fort Lupton Press
February 17, 2022
DOGS
FROM PAGE 1
During the COVID pandemic shutdown impacted the therapy dogs and handlers too not being able to come to the hospital. “They let us back in with staff for a while and it’s been wonderful with the dogs. Slowly we are allowed on all the units with patients, but with COVID, it’s been the main concern with us, “ said Wiant. All the therapy dogs are members of their owners’ households but go through obedient training and Canine Good Citizen training. The handlers go through training, too. Beverly Cudsik with her dog Pepper has volunteered for six years visiting hospitals. “Pepper did a lot of training in the beginning when she was a puppy and I took her to obedience and Canine Good Citizen classes. Then you are connected to organizations,” said Cudsik. “When you use your dog, you know what kind of personality they have. When I got my dog seven months ago, she was just so sweet and calm. I just knew she’d make a great therapy dog.” Once the dog completes training, they are evaluated on basic skills, such as how they react to people, to noises and to different environments. After passing, the therapy dog is ready to visit organizations. The breed of a dog does not matter, Cudzik said. The main thing is personality and if they like people or like being petted. “It could be any dog, a big dog or PAID ADVERTISEMENT
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Joy Memmen a ICU registered nurse has two visitors left Sweets and Pepper.
small dog. Whatever you choose, you know your dog,” said Cudsik. “Sometimes the dog can be wonderful at home but don’t like people or crowds, so they are not a good therapy dog.” Cudsik chooses where she and Pepper want to visit from hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. PVMC was her first assignment has been coming ever since. “I go other places, but I like Platte Valley. It’s like home and family. It makes me so happy. Pepper just loves it and seeing the joy she brings to people,” said Cudsik. “Also, we bring them to the courthouse and she calms people down,” she said. “They are all stressed out and afraid to testify. S,he just makes them happy and the staff too. They say ‘You just made my day.’ “ Brad Layman is a registered nurse and nurse educator at the hospital for 22-years and was in the emergency department. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have known Susan Wiant since the inception and watched her wonderful family of dogs going through
here, which I got very connected with,” said Layman. Layman says with the patientcentered care model at PVMC the therapy dogs are a great addition to the hospital. “This is phenomenal addition is very successful, in my opinion, as far as with visiting the patients,” said Layman. “In this day on how healthcare has gone and the stress on healthcare workers is a lot and associates as well. It’s not only for the patients, which is a huge part of it and very effective. The hospital’s employees look forward to seeing the dogs, too. “Everybody is just overjoyed with them and it has helped with the health and wellness of the caregivers as well,” said Layman. “It’s a huge asset to the entire organization. I can’t imagine not having them. They make my day every time I see him.” Joy Memmen a registered nurse at Platte Valley and has held various positions, but spent most of her time as an ICU nurse. During the COVID pandemic, I
would describe it to people there are two worlds, there’s the world outside the hospital, and the world inside the hospital- the world inside the hospital has been like a war the last couple of years,” said Memmen. Our staff, our patients, all the caregivers have endured a lot of trauma.” Memmen says when the staff sees the dogs it helps to heal the trauma, but when the dogs were unable to come in during the shut down the staff was devastated for the first few months. So when the therapy dogs were allowed to come to the parking lot outside, the staff scheduled time to come out to visit them. “I seek out the dogs and know what time they come in and when they are at the bistro. I’ll go down to say hello to the dogs just to spend a few minutes with them. I’m not sure what we would have done without them, “ said Memmen. “It is so important for mental health to have that little bit of sunshine and a little bit of animal companionship.”
MARIJUANA
ing before we move to cultivation,” Ausmus said. “There’s going to be a lot of administrative things going on, and I’d prefer to wait.” City consultant Laura Bower agreed. “I recommend you get comfortable with the process,” she told councilors. “Different types of licensing processes can be a challenge. They want to grow their
own. They want to sell it in stores. Having separate license processes could be a problem.” The city’s contracted planner, Todd Hodges, said it would take 60 to 90 days to review a site plan once the city receives the application. “I have no objection to waiting until we get our licensees,” Stieber said. The rest of council didn’t either.
development.
said. Vestal also updated the council on an increase in money from the state’s highway user tax fund. The state collects money from such things as road safety surcharges, oversize/ overweight surcharges, rental car surcharges late vehicle registration fees. “The formula changes every year,” he told councilors. “In 2021, we had 67 user miles of roads. Now the total is 72.3, That means you’ll get an increase. But I don’t have a specific amount.”
FROM PAGE 2
More pot talk Council also seemed inclined to leave potential marijuana cultivation alone until sometime in June. “I’d like to see us get through the lottery and the initial licens-
VESTAL FROM PAGE 2
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nonpotable water systems and street repairs will be about $9 million spread into two sections. Four million is set aside for street work. The Coyote Creek subdivision (council approved the fourth filing Feb. 1) needs special improvements, too, to the tune of $2.6 million. Most of that work is similar to the Murata
Finance part 2 Vestal suggested the council approve a $119,000 contract with Burns & McDonnell, an engineering and consulting firm, for a utility plan for the required wastewater improvements. Another firm, CH2M Hill, also submitted a bid. “Did you ask them (CH2M Hill) if they would meet the price? Mayor Zo Stieber asked. “Yes. They kind of waffled,” Vestal
