Terminally Ill Patients Able to Keep Pets Thanks to Pet Peace of Mind
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Best friends until the end! The Pet Peace of Mind program allows patients who are terminally ill to keep their beloved pet by their side.
When you or someone you know is diagnosed with an illness, it’s absolutely devastating. It’s worse when there can nothing to be done to extend their life, but only to make them more comfortable as the days go by. Unfortunately, diseases such as cancer can slowly make a person’s life more and more challenging, making it difficult to not only take care of oneself, but also the pets that rely on you for survival.
Take Donna Sarner for instance. She is a Cornerstone Hospice patient who was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, which causes her a great amount of pain and limits her physical movements. This makes going outside to feed her cats and dogs difficult, and taking them to veterinary appointments nearly impossible.
Many people in this kind of situation arrange for their pets to be rehomed by a friend or family member, or surrender them to a shelter. But for Donna, separating her from her pets is definitely not part of the plan yet and so, she got some much-needed help from the folks at Pet Peace of Mind.
Based out of Salem, Oregon, Pet Peace of Mind is a volunteer program at Cornerstone Hospice that has helped thousands of patients care for their furry children as they go through their end-of-life journey. Kristine Murtz is the volunteer services manager and Pet Peace of Mind program coordinator at Cornerstone Hospice. She helps Donna in her home by assisting her feed and take care of the animals in her home, including her four large dogs who absolutely shower her with unbridled love and affection.
The Pet Peace of Mind program not only helps Donna care for her animals by delivering food and transporting the animals to the vet when they need it, but they also arranged to have the cats spayed, neutered and vaccinated. Talk about a helping hand when you need one!
Situations such as Donna’s are what makes these programs so valuable and important to the community it serves, especially if the person being helped doesn’t have any immediate family or friends to help out. To see how you can help, be sure to visit Pet Peace of Mind’s website.
~ Community Support
