August 2016 – Meet the Team – We met this team two years ago in the entry below. Here are a few more things to know about them.
Tell us something about your partner that we may not know. – Willie is a wonderful therapy dog and truly an angel on visits. He is calm, sweet and very interested in those he visits. However, at home he is a wild man and leader of our pack. You would not believe he is a therapy dog by watching his behavior at home. However, when we are getting ready to go visit and when I put on his vest he becomes a different dog. He knows he has a job to do and loves it.
Tell us something about yourself that we may not know. – I have always had a tremendous love of animals. But 19 years ago I was at a phase in my life that I needed something to do. I was also at that time having some family issues I was dealing with. And somehow, Pet Partners came into my life and what a blessing it was. It came to me and allowed me to see and nurture even more my love of animals and understand more fully what they could do to help others.
August 12, 2014 – Therapy Team of the Second Quarter – Cindy Page and Willie are our therapy team of the second quarter! We would like to showcase her and her various teams throughout the years. Cindy has been in our organization and has been a team off and on for 17 years. In fact, she has been in our organization longer than any other existing member.
She joined us in 1997.
She has had 4 therapy dogs over the 17 years – Mollie (deceased), Lucie (deceased), Roscoe (deceased) and Willie
(current therapy dog for the last 6 years).
She has visited numerous assisted living and nursing homes, a couple of hospitals and has done some work at SAMMC.
She has also participated in many presentations and has been a team in StoryTails.
She has been a therapy team evaluator for 16 years (since 1998).
She has been on the Board for 16 years and has served in the positions below:
Membership Chair – 3 years (1998, 1999, 2000)
President – 2 years (2000, 2001)
Treasurer – 7 years (2002- 2009)
Advisor – 4 years (2010 – present)
Pooch Parade – She helped start the Pooch Parade and has been a part of it ever since. She has been Pooch Parade Chair several years and has worked every year to help make it happen.
Cindy has been visiting with her current therapy dog, Willie, for the last 6 years in a nursing home in Boerne and has done many other things with him during this time. Her visiting story is below.
There have been so many moments during my visits over the years that have really made me understand our mission that I could write a book. It is those moments that have kept me going for so many years. One recent story comes to mind that I will share. Willie and I were visiting one day at our nursing home and one of the ladies who we visit regularly was in a different room from her normal room. It was dark and dreary in the room and there was a gentleman with her. I decided to go on in and say hello as this lady really enjoys visiting with Willie. I found out that the gentleman was a therapist from a hospital and was there because the lady had just gotten back from the hospital that day after having a defibrillator put in. The therapist was trying to get her to sit up but it was quite apparent he was having no luck with this. So I just decided to try and help him and told the lady that Willie was there and he would really like for her to sit up and pet him like she usually did. The lady immediately threw off her covers and sat up smiling and started petting and talking to Willie. The therapist was definitely surprised and thought he might be getting somewhere. He then began to try and see if he could get the lady to walk down the hallway with her walker. But she looked at him and said NO. So I said to the lady that if she would walk down the hallway that Willie would love to walk with her. She got a huge smile on her face, got up and stood with her walker. She and Willie then walked out of the room and very slowly went down the hallway as she talked to Willie the whole time. The therapist was amazed and just smiled. When we got to the end of the hallway we stopped and he put her in her wheelchair to go back to her room. He looked at me and said he did not know how to thank us and that it was a blessing that we were there as he was not having any luck with getting the lady to respond to him. It truly made my day and further reminded me of the power of our beloved animals and why I do what I do.
Therapy Animals thanks Cindy for all of her service to our organization and the community!
