practical living
What sorts of things do you look for when picking volunteers ? Obviously , we ’ re needing someone who enjoys being in the company of animals , but also we need to make sure that we can match them with the person that they ’ re visiting as well . There ’ s a social benefit as well . We want volunteers that are happy to go into someone else ’ s home , not judge anybody by the way they ’ re living or the way they ’ re managing their lives , and be able to bring something positive to that person in their life and help them with their animal care .
Who are the ideal clients for the project ? Some of our clients have had different reasons for needing services . We ’ ve had people who obviously have some physical restrictions that mean that they ’ re not able to walk long distances with their animal anymore , or they had a temporary health change and aren ’ t able to get out and about . We ’ ve also had some carers of people who are not finding the time to walk their dog as well as care for the person they ’ re caring for in the home . There ’ s a variety of reasons . Sometimes , it ’ s just age , not able to get out and about as easily as before , but often , there ’ s a medical restriction that ’ s preventing them from getting out .
Being able to maintain a relationship with their companion animal and know that they ’ re healthy and looked after is an obvious benefit , but what are some of the broader implications of the project ? It ’ s been a fantastic thing to support people actually having a visitor in their home that perhaps might not have let someone into their property . We have had a few instances where people have not ever had services or even are not very socially connected , so having someone visit them regularly has been a really positive thing as well , and they ’ re doing it because it ’ s for the pet . They ’ re not thinking about their own social need , but it ’ s a side benefit of it , so that ’ s been a really good thing .
Obviously , helping people maintain their relationship with their pet means that they ’ re getting all those health benefits , and studies have proven that there are many health benefits to having a dog . So , for a lot of people who are on their own , keeping the relationship with their animal is very important .
What sort of feedback have you received from people involved ? We have sent out a survey to all the people that were involved in the pilot project , which ran for 12 months , and we had some really good and very positive feedback about the project , plus some lovely comments about how they would like to have more service . Obviously , people always want to have a little bit more and we ’ re trying to do our best to meet people ’ s needs .
We ’ ve had some anecdotal information from owners about their dogs improving with their health and being calmer when they ’ re at home . We ’ ve also had some lovely stories with the volunteers enjoying the opportunity to have a relationship with an animal that might ’ ve ceased in their own lives , but they ’ ve now actually been able to go and visit somebody else with a dog as well . There have been some lovely outcomes .
What does the future hold for the Companion Animal Project ? We ’ re doing really well . We ’ re still going along very nicely . It ’ s two years down the track now . We did a 12-month pilot and it ’ s continued after that pilot with a lot of support from council . We ’ ve met with a variety of councils now within the metropolitan region and spoken to some regional councils as well about the opportunity for them to think about starting a project .
We ’ ve developed with OFTA [ SA Office for the Ageing ] funding and Mary-Rose another project we just initiated . A kit ’ s being created which will be available soon on the RSPCA page for other councils or agencies to consider if they wanted to set up their own project . All the findings and some of the tools and the benefits and things that we ’ ve found from doing the project should be available in that kit .
We ’ ve also started a ‘ home alone ’ card for people to have in their wallets so that if something happens to them or they ’ re taken to hospital , someone knows there ’ s a pet at home on their own and might need a bit of support .
So lots of little things have come out of this project . We ’ ve done some work with the animal management team here at council with some barking dogs and things that have become a bit of a nuisance for community , but with a bit of extra exercise for the dogs , some of these things have ceased . Not all the time , but just that little bit of extra exercise of the animals actually
helped as well . So there ’ s been lots of little side benefits that have come out of this .
What would you say to other councils interested in setting up a similar project ? I think it ’ s a lovely project to be involved with . Personally , I ’ ve had a lot of satisfaction . I know my team have enjoyed it as well . It ’ s easy enough to do if you can get support from council .
Also , having input from a variety of teams within the council region is important . We ’ ve got an animal management team involved . We have a volunteer coordinator involved who helps us to make sure the volunteers are suitable and we do all the screenings .
We also have training for our volunteers to make sure they get the skills they need and feel comfortable walking somebody else ’ s animal . We ’ ve looked at the risk . Obviously , risk is a huge thing that council have to negate , but we ’ ve really gone along and looked at the benefit of the project and how that actually assists people in their homes and we ’ re really very happy with the program . ■ agedcareinsite . com . au 19