Since retiring as a teacher, I frequently visit residents in nursing homes, primarily nursing homes that are government-funded with Medicare and/or Medicaid. It is heartbreaking to see pervasive loneliness among the residents. The staff, as caring as they might be, is often overworked and emotionally spent. Limited resources afford little entertainment beyond occasional bingo games or gatherings to watch a movie. Residents eat their meals alone, with their meals brought to their rooms rather than dining communally with others as is common in most privately-owned assisted living facilities. Visits from family or friends is rare among this population.

My idea is to bring the two worlds of pets and children/teens to ease the loneliness of emotionally neglected nursing home residents. I would like to hire a website designer and developer to create an interactive, 3-way communication site among 1) the aforementioned-type nursing homes, 2) locally available qualified pet centers and therapy dog owners, and 3) local children’s centers, such as schools, groups (i.e., scouting clubs, church teen clubs), and daycare centers. All three groups who chose to participate would be given necessary guidelines, and visiting pets would need to be approved as safe and appropriate.

The starring feature of the website is that it would offer a very easy, user-friendly way to for the nursing home to post the kind of visits they’d most like, and the two service volunteer groups could easily see the post and have a simple way to respond. Without something like this, a typical nursing homes is relegated to posting notices in local newspapers, in church bulletins or on bulletin boards across town, hoping someone will respond. The two service entities, meanwhile, might only be within a mile or two of that nursing home but nevertheless are completely unaware how much their presence would be so greatly appreciated and needed! Just petting and nuzzling a friendly dog, reading a story book to a small child, watching a school’s group come to show off singing or dancing talents – all would be simple but powerful antidotes to the sad loneliness all too common in nursing homes.

Thank you for considering my proposal and with best wishes,

Virginia Long

Note: The benefits to the nursing home residents being visited by pets and/or therapy animals is well documented. Over time, residents having contact with pets and therapy animals tend to have lowered levels of anxiety, depression, apathy and loneliness 1, 2. Moreover, the participating visitors benefit as well, as was chronicled in an Atlantic article about a pre-school which regularly took small groups to interact with nursing home residents. Older children benefit as well. In fact, regardless of the child’s age, their visits afford wonderful opportunities to develop speaking and listening skills, empathy and emotional sensitivity, as well as self-esteem in realizing that they are making a valuable contribution to others' happiness 3, 4.

1 Various organizations can be contacted to locate therapy and companion dogs and pets, such as Assistance Dogs of America, American Service Pets, and US Service Animals.

2 “The Benefit of Pets and Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Health of Older Individuals” by E. Paul Cherniack, Ariella r. Cerniack. Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, 2014 Nov 16; 2014.

3 “Benefits of Both Children and Nursing Home Residents with visits and Activities with Pre-School Children” by Tiffany R. Jansen, The Atlantic, Jan 20, 2019

4 “Intergenerational Care Benefits Children and Seniors. Why Is It Still So Rare?”, by Emily Tate Sullivan, EdSurge, Dec 17, 2024

Business Plan

The goal of the project is to (1) design and develop a website that, once implemented, will enable therapy pet owners and children’s/teens’ groups to contribute towards a higher quality of live for Virginia’s Fairfax-are nursing home residents, (2) provide data on the effectiveness of the project on residents’ quality of life, and (3) hopefully serve as a prototype for other communities with similar facilities with limited funds.

I am respectfully requesting $10,000 in funding, the minimum allowed. An estimate for the cost for a website designer and developer, based on my internet research, would be between $2,000-$5,000, depending on the complexity. I am not sure of the complexities the person would encounter in gathering and contacting all three entities, but I would be working along with him/her to help minimize cost.

The first expenditure would be the hiring of a website designer (focusing on the visual elements of the website) and developer (focusing on the technical aspects). The site would enable interactive communication between the following three groups:

1. The Fairfax community’s nursing homes, those predominately government-funded by Medicaid. Cardinal Care, Virginia’s Medicaid program, can provide a list of those sites.
2. Contacts for dog and pet therapy providers in the community who will provide services as volunteers. For safety reasons, only those organizations which approve and certify therapy animals will be included (examples are Pet Partners, Therapy Dogs International, and People Love Animals or PAL). One in particular, Fairfax Pets on Wheels, has been providing an all-volunteer program specifically geared to provide companionship to residents of Fairfax area nursing homes since 1987.
3. Contacts to Fairfax-area children and teen sites looking for meaningful ways to help others and, at the same time, contribute towards their own development of empathy, kindness, and social skills. Such contacts include the area’s schools, youth church groups, and scouting organizations.

Activities include residents reading stories to the small children, playing board games or cards, children or teens coming to perform a play, musical production or a talent show they had done at school.

Secondly, funding would go towards the developer and I gathering data quarterly through the trial first year period to assess a quality-of-life baseline among the nursing home residents as well as any differences in that baseline assessment as the year progresses. The short, three-question survey would be randomly distributed among a sample of the residents and would focus on the three major concerns of feelings of being cared for, loneliness, and engagement with other residents. This would entail the assistance of a statistician to advise on the survey wording, sample size needed and the interpretation of the data in statistical terms.

Lastly, the developer and I would digitally share the data with all participating parties as well as community news organizations. Any funds are still remaining could be divided among the participating nursing homes and given as gifts from your company or group.