Los Altos Sub-Acute residents get therapeutic lift by exotic animals

By Town Crier Staff,

Residents at the Los Altos Sub-Acute and Rehabilitation Center were thrilled last week. After all, they had been visited, and some even kissed, by a big celebrity.

Kazzy the camel, all 1,350 pounds of her, gently walked into every room at the senior care home, gingerly lowering her large head into the laps of seniors in wheelchairs so they could pet her. Those who were kissed proudly wore stickers, even the day after, that read, “Kissed by Kazzy.”

Kazzy was part of a visit last Thursday by members of the Lyon Ranch in Sonoma County. The ranch, championed by retired airline employees Rob and Robin Lyon, provides free visits to senior care facilities throughout the Bay Area in the interests of animal-assisted therapy - brightening lives of those who are often cooped up and lonely from lack of contact with the outside world.

“The power of animals can be quite amazing if they’re used right,” said Robin after the visit. “When you think about touch, most of them associate it with something unpleasant (such as being given a shot). All of a sudden, they forget their woes and they live in the moment.”

In addition to Kazzy, the Lyons brought another camel, a lynx-like Serval, a hybrid zebra-donkey named ZZ Top and a variety of exotic birds such as colorful parrots.

The Lyons, who have been making such visits for approximately five years, got the idea for helping seniors because Robin’s mother was in a nursing home. “We saw a need for stimulation,” she said. “We do so much for children, but for older people, they’re out of sight, out of mind.”

The Lyons’ animals, sure enough, had residents’ eyes glimmering with delight.

“They were just chattering the whole time,” Robin said of the Sub-Acute seniors.

“People were so thrilled,” echoed Mary Meehan, director of program development for Los Altos Sub-Acute. “We’ll have to do it as an annual event.”

Meehan, who got word of the Lyons through an acquaintance, recalled one 92-year-old woman who was overjoyed because she had never before petted a camel. Another gentleman remarked he hadn’t seen camels since World War II.

“I was on a high the whole day,” Meehan said.

For more information about the Lyon Ranch, logon to: www.lyonranch.org.