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Shelley Schneider

Seeking volunteers to help hospice patients’ pets

November 29, 2017 By Kathy Steele

Gulfside Hospice & Pasco Palliative Care provides compassionate care for patients on the end-of-life journey. Increasingly, that care means giving people peace of mind when it comes to decisions about their pets.

Since 2014, the nonprofit’s Pet Peace of Mind program has taken stress away from patients worried about who will care for their furry companions.

Gulfside Hospice & Pasco Palliative Care helped hospice patient Alberta Beyer, and her furry companion, Rocky, through its Pet Peace of Mind program. (Courtesy of Gulfside Hospice & Pasco Palliative Care)

In many cases, volunteers have helped patients stay in their homes, with their cat or dog.

“Especially as people get older, we find people have a closer relationship with their pets,” said Kirsty Churchill, Gulfside Hospice’s community relations manager. “Their pet is their child. When you’re faced with going into a nursing home or hospice care center, it’s tough. A lot of times they wouldn’t want to leave them.”

Gulfside Hospice currently is seeking volunteers to help with Pet Peace of Mind.

The program can provide free veterinary care, pet food, flea and tick treatment, boarding and pet sitting services.

The program also helps to find a new home or foster family for pets, if family members are unable to adopt them.

Volunteers mostly help with picking up pets and taking them to veterinary appointments or to a groomer. They also stop by to take a dog for a walk and generally do the services a pet sitter would provide.

“It means the world to them,” said Rabbi Aaron Lever, a chaplain at Gulfside Hospice and the patient care volunteer manager. “They are too sick to take the dog to the veterinarian or groomer. They can’t drive. We’re trying to give peace of mind to patients, so they can continue to stay with their pets.”

Volunteers also donate and sell handcrafted gift items at community events, and arts and crafts fairs.

Gulfside Hospice was founded in 1988 by a registered nurse, an oncologist and a physician assistant who wanted to serve patients with chronic or life-limiting illnesses.

Pet Peace of Mind at Gulfside Hospice began in May 2014, with seed money from the Banfield Charitable Trust. Since then, donations, fund raisers and volunteers have sustained the program.

Former employee Shelley Schneider got the program started.

“She had a strong love of animals,” Lever said. “She thought this would be a wonderful program to help our patients in this way.”

There are Pet Peace of Mind programs nationwide. The national program is based in Oregon.

At Gulfside, Lever said Pet Peace of Mind has helped about 115 patients and 150 pets.

Most were cats and dogs, but Lever said, “We did have a 55-year-old parrot once.”

While many volunteers take on pet-sitting chores, Lever said they also help with donations and fundraising events.

They sometimes knit pet sweaters or sell beanie babies at arts and crafts events in the area.

Volunteers also provide quilts, handmade jewelry, paintings or other hand-crafted gift items.

“All the money from sales goes to Pet Peace of Mind,” Lever said.  “There is always need for funds.”

For information about volunteering or to make a donation, call Gulfside Hospice at (800) 561-4883, visit GHPPC.org.

The website for Pet Peace of Mind is PetPeaceOfMind.org.

Published November 29, 2017

Filed Under: Health, Local News Tagged With: Aaron Lever, Banfield Charitable Trust, Gulfside Hospice & Pasco Palliative Care, Gulfside Regional Hospice, Kirsty Churchill, Pet Peace of Mind, Shelley Schneider

They’re not ‘just pets.’ They’re family.

October 28, 2015 By Michael Murillo

A woman sits inside a modest chapel in Zephyrhills, and her voice is shaking. She’s describing the loss of a loved one, and the guilt she feels about that loss.

A chaplain and a therapist sit with her and listen, then try to comfort her by sharing their own perspectives.

Mary Ann Polom attended a recent pet loss support group meeting to share her feelings after losing Annie, her toy poodle. Michael Murillo/Staff Photo
Mary Ann Polom attended a recent pet loss support group meeting to share her feelings after losing Annie, her toy poodle.
Michael Murillo/Staff Photo

Her grief is natural, they say, and a normal part of life. Beginning that afternoon, she takes important steps on her journey of mourning and healing.

It’s a scene that plays out all too often at Gulfside Hospice, 5760 Dean Dairy Road in Zephyrhills.

But this time it’s different.

Mary Ann Polom isn’t grieving over the loss of a human family member. It’s her beloved toy poodle, Annie, who was put to sleep just a few weeks before.

For Polom, and many others with pets, a dog or cat isn’t like family. They are family. And the loss they feel when their pet dies is just as real and valid as other losses.

Friends and family sometimes don’t see it the same way.

They will say things like “it’s just a dog,” not realizing the depth of the connection the two shared. That can leave a pet owners feeling confused, embarrassed, and guilty over their feelings, which compounds the grief.

Shelley Schneider, vice-president of counseling and advocacy services at Gulfside Hospice, said their reaction is actually a perfectly normal response to the death of a loved one.

“Sometimes people don’t quite understand why people are grieving so hard for losing an animal,” Schneider explained. “We just really want to validate that what they’re going through is appropriate, normal, and common.”

Gulf Hospice provides that validation with a free monthly pet loss support group, and the organization is hoping to reach anyone in the community mourning a pet’s death who needs to share and be heard by people who understand.

Word of the group reached Polom in her time of grief, and she attended a recent meeting.

‘My Little Partner’

Annie’s problems started about a year earlier, when she broke her hip. A heart murmur was also detected, and after hip surgery she never healed properly. She lost her appetite, and after a long struggle the veterinarian said it was time to put her down.

Chaplain Michael Merritt, left, and Gulfside's Shelley Schneider offer words of encouragement and a safe place to share feelings and memories for pet owners grieving a serious loss. Michael Murillo/Staff Photo
Chaplain Michael Merritt, left, and Gulfside’s Shelley Schneider offer words of encouragement and a safe place to share feelings and memories for pet owners grieving a serious loss.
Michael Murillo/Staff Photo

Polom made that tough decision, and a month later she still felt guilty.

“I can’t seem to forgive myself,” she admitted. “She was like my little partner.”

One thing that sticks in her mind is how Annie seemed to be doing better right at the end of her life. It’s a common occurrence, even with humans, for the sick to experience a rally of sorts even as their condition worsens. Polom experienced the same thing with her father when he passed away.

But seeing Annie behave normally, even for a short time, makes her question if she did the right thing. And after losing her husband to cancer a decade ago, letting Annie go has left her alone.

The parallels between human and pet loss aren’t unique to Polom’s situation. According to Schneider, the grief and loss can be similar, so helping those in mourning can be similar as well.

“A lot of what we do in the pet group is what we do with families, because

we live in a society that really doesn’t educate, and doesn’t really like to talk about death and dying,” she said.

In the session, Schneider, a licensed clinical social worker, and Michael Merritt, a chaplain, offer advice and comfort. But they also do a lot of listening, from stories about Annie’s loving personality, to the guilt and grief Polom feels about losing her closest companion.

Just knowing that those feelings aren’t unusual, and being able to share their story can be extremely beneficial to those who have lost a pet. Especially when they know they’re talking to people who share that love of animals, like Schneider and Merritt, and understand the degree of closeness that owners feel.

Polom said attending the group was beneficial for her.

“I think it’s part of the journey. I think it’s a good part for me,” Polom said. “It makes me feel normal, like I’m in my element.”

Pet Peace of Mind

Schneider deals with issues related to pets outside the bereavement sessions. Gulfside Hospice received a grant for the Pet Peace of Mind program from Banfield Trust, which enables them to assist Hospice patients and their pets.

That assistance might include providing food, boarding assistance or basic veterinary care. It’s not unusual for patients to be concerned about the welfare of their pets, Schneider said, and the Pet Peace of Mind program helps alleviate those concerns. In less than two years they’ve cared for more than 80 animals, and found new homes for more than a dozen.

Knowing that Hospice will be there to assist them with anything from grooming to dog-walking to providing food and kitty litter lifts a burden from patients, and provides comfort with the knowledge that someone will step in and help care for a pet if and when an owner cannot do so anymore.

Again, Schneider notes the similarities in concern for pet welfare, and that of human family members.

“One of the great things about the Pet Peace of Mind program is that they want us to come up with an individual plan of care for the pet, just like we do for our patients,” she said.

Just like with humans, consistency of care is considered important. If a pet sees a certain veterinarian, efforts are made to ensure that relationship continues.

The pet loss support group is free, but they do accept donations to keep Pet Peace of Mind funded and active.

Whether it’s reading a pet-related poem, offering thoughts as a fellow animal-lover, or just listening to a grieving owner’s stories, Schneider wants the pet loss support group to be available for anyone in the area who needs to know that their feelings are normal, their sense of loss is valid, and they’re not alone in forging special relationships with their pets.

“It’s really to bring peace of mind and decrease their own emotional and spiritual pain and suffering,” Schneider said.

The next group is scheduled to meet Oct. 29 from 3 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. For more information about the pet loss support group, call Schneider at (727) 484-7995. For information about the Pet Peace of Mind program, call (800) 561-4883 or visit GHppc.org.

Published October 28, 2015

Filed Under: Local News, Zephyrhills/East Pasco News Tagged With: cats, dogs, Family, Gulfside Hospice, Mary Ann Polom, Michael Merritt, Pet Peace of Mind, Pets, Shelley Schneider, Zephyrhills

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