If you have a family member or friend who has suffered from dementia, you know how important cognitive stimulation is for them. Memory care centers and assisted living homes work hard to provide activities like board games and outings to help patients and their families adjust to this lifelong challenge. But even with these efforts, life can still be quite complicated for them.
Before we get to that, let's address why we would bring a goat to a dementia patient. Studies have shown that human interaction with animals can increase oxytocin levels—the "love hormone"—and reduce cortisol levels, which is linked to stress. An imbalance in these hormones can make life challenging, and reducing stress obviously improves the quality of life.
By donating to our mission today, you can provide a dementia patient with a goat-assisted therapy session. We bring our rescued Nigerian Dwarf Goats to memory care centers, creating interactions that promote cognitive function, increase oxytocin levels, reduce cortisol levels, and help spark memory recall. These interactions are incredibly special for dementia patients every single time, and with community support, our mission to integrate goats into therapy becomes a reality.
Not only does this mission provide therapy support for dementia patients, but it also helps our goat rescue survive. All the goats in our program are rescued Nigerian Dwarf Goats. They come from diverse backgrounds and locations, often being unwanted or discarded by the farming industry. This program provides a way for the rescue goats to earn a living and find purpose. They are social animals that love spending time with humans, whether they have dementia or not.
If you've read this far, thank you. Before I close, I want to leave you with this thought: you might be willing to pay for tickets to a renaissance festival or entry to a zoo to interact with animals. Instead of that, why not donate to a cause that supports both animal advocacy and human therapy? This is a cause I care deeply about because of how these goats have transformed my own life. It's evident that they can transform others' lives and improve their quality of life as well.
I personally have watched thousands of humans benefit from goat interaction. I have visited hundreds of memory care center patients and its evident that the goats are good for the patients. I started goat yoga in Colorado and my heart called me to memory care centers. I've watched our program blossom in the heart of our senior community and if anyone deserves goats its our grandparents.
If you can't donate goat time to a dementia patient, consider joining our mission by
volunteering at one of our memory care center visits or donating a sensory blanket this fall for our Christmas Sensory Blanket Drive. There are several ways to support our mission to create therapy interactions for those who need it and a better life for all goats.
Thank you for all your support.
Jim Naron
Goat Walkabouts President