Regina seniors home welcomes alpaca, bunnies, chicks and more for afternoon visit

Some Regina seniors had a special group of visitors recently. An alpaca, baby rabbits, chicks, roosters, ducklings and a lamb came to the Riverbend Crossing Memory Care home last week.

The visit was part of an initiative to use animal therapy to calm seniors. It's being done through a partnership with Fenek Farms, located outside Regina. 

Many people at the care home grew up on farms, so these interactions are second nature, said Stephanie Klaus, director of wellness at Riverbend Crossing.

"It just elicits a really positive response for them," Klaus said. "We see lots of residents who just, a smile comes out when it doesn't on any other day."

The home specializes in memory care, so all the residents have some type of cognitive impairment, such as dementia or Alzheimer's, Klaus said. Having the animals is especially important in that case as their long-term memories are still active. 

"It's just homey for them," she said.

Tanya Walker came out to the event to be with her mother, Sylvia. 

"I think it's special," Walker said. "Some of the people can't go to the farm so I'm amazed that they went through the trouble to do this."

Walker said seeing her mother holding a baby rabbit was a special moment. 

"My mom was talking to it like as if it was a little human baby, so it was pretty cute," she said. 

Rose Richardson a Riverbend Crossing resident. She said she enjoyed the animals and that it's good for the families to be able to come out together. 

Richardson said she's not sure what it is about animals that makes her happy.

"Maybe it's just because we don't always have them every day," she said.

Josef Buttigieg owns and operates Fenek Farms with his wife and three children. He said it started out as a small family project but has grown into this transportable petting zoo for animal therapy like this. 

"The ability to touch, smell, feel the animals themselves — it's stimulating, especially for those that don't get much stimulation to begin with," Buttigieg said.

Seeing other people enjoying the animals brings him joy, he said. 

"It's a three-way street," he said. "Animals happy, guests happy, I'm happy."

Buttigieg said he hopes to continue going to different homes and bringing the animals around the city in the future.

"The intent is to be able to spread the joy that we have with people that don't have that opportunity in the city."