This Nurse of the Week Will Never Say Your Companion Animal is "Only a ____"

This Nurse of the Week clearly understands the value of companion animals in healing.

Jennifer Smith is an RN at the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Rome, New York. She works in the Center’s adult day health care program, where adults in need of supervision can enjoy socializing while receiving medical care while living at home instead of being isolated in a facility.

While Smith enjoys all of her patients, she formed a special bond with 60-year-old John Burley. When her patient shared photos of Boomer, his amazing dog (of course he was amazing!), Smith, who has a 13-year-old dog of her own, was an attentive audience. Burley and Boomer had lived together for most of Boomer’s 12 years, and when Burley had to move from Arkansas to Rome, New York, leaving the rest of his family behind, his furry housemate became his go-to for warmth, joy, and emotional support. Man, dog, and nurse all jogged along together for a while, and all was well.

Then, one day, dog and man were parted.

Burley came down with pneumonia and was hospitalized for that and other lung problems. As he lived alone and had no one nearby to look after Boomer, the city stepped in. With Boomer’s person unavailable for an indefinite time, the good boy – a good, 12-year-old boy-dog – was sent to a shelter. Burley, isolated in the hospital and sick with worry as well as pneumonia, turned to another vital source of support, his nurse. And his nurse came through for him.

During the frantic call, it transpired that Burley didn’t even know what shelter Boomer had been taken to, but a determined Smith looked up local shelters, made a few calls, and traced him to a Humane Society pound. She recalled, “I was a little panicked because I didn’t know how long he had been in the shelter or if he had already been adopted to another family. It’s Christmas time and people get animals.” Having been with her 13-year-old dog since she was a puppy, Smith said, “I fully understand the panic. It made my heart sad for him and Boomer.”

The next day, she devoted her lunch break to the Boomer Quest. As soon as she saw that the amazing dog was safe, Smith phoned her patient to relieve his mind. But she couldn’t imagine having to tell her patient that Boomer was caged and in the hands of fate. Applying the golden rule, Smith actually adopted the terrier mix and brought him to her home. Before long, Boomer became a welcome house guest and formed a companionable relationship with Smith’s 13-year-old. She dismissed the adoption decision, remarking, “It’s one less worry that John has, and he needs to focus on getting better and taking care of himself and know Boomer is in good hands.”

Burley is now at the day health care center again after recovering from his illness, and Smith brings Boomer to work with her. She considers the dog important to her patient’s healing process and has prescribed visits between man and dog twice a day during her shifts. Most important to Smith? “The focus is on John getting better and taking it one day at a time.” Part of making that happen, as she sees it, is that “I made a promise to John to take care of Boomer. I will take care of him as long as he needs me to. John knows that.”