St. Eligius Health Center (Superior, WI, 06/23/10)

Wednesday 6/23/2010 Outreach Visit to St. Eligius Health Center in Duluth Superior

“WHAT ROOM WILL SHE BEING STAYING IN?” asked the security guard. Magic captured the heart of this security guard and every single resident, staff member, and volunteer.

What an appreciative staff. What appreciative volunteers. What appreciative residents. Even the janitorial people were appreciative. We had a blast at St. Eligius. What a great place to visit.

Before we got into the building we were met energetically by the janitorial staff who told us horse jokes. They were very accommodating and told us they had no worries about cleaning up after Magic. They assured us they had cleaned up much worse.

The community room had a very tight circle of residents in wheel chairs and more kept coming off the elevator…at least 50. Behind them were staff, volunteers, and relatives making it at least 75 people.

Carole, Trish , and I talked to the residents for a good half hour before Magic came in. We each took a section of people. We answered questions about Magic, complimented residents on jewelry, or wearing shirts with animals on them.

One resident had shown horses. She had so much knowledge. I hooked her up with Kathi so they could talk. Later on when I mentioned to people about how Magic’s whiskers tickled, the woman yelled several times, “Those are not whiskers those are hairs!” Kathi had a good laugh.

One resident whose name was Judy also had a horse named Judy. She was called Little Judy and the horse was called Big Judy.

One youth volunteer went riding at a friend’s house. It was a ‘bigger ‘pony than Magic…It reared while he was on it and that was the last time he will ever get on a horse.

One great story we heard was about a great grandfather. He had a stable of riding horses in Proctor. He would cut lumber here, make it into fence posts. Then drive all the way to Glendive, Montana trading fence posts for horses. He even made money on the deal.

One staff member said her father rescued 2 horses form the circus, Rusty and Silver. One was blind.

It always thrills me to hear that sound when Magic walks into the room and see the smiles that come on people’s faces. This was no different except that people had a hard time waiting for Magic to come around.

Beverly, who saw us at the West Duluth Women’s Club and arranged for us to go to the MS Support Group, was the one who also told the activity director at St. Eligius about us. She was there too. She has seen Magic 2x and still cannot get enough of her. She is in a wheel chair and drives her own car. It is an effort for her to come to these. She is such a fan of Magic and our program. She has even set up a seminar in Sept. for another group. Beverly told us that our program was the ABSOLUTE best program the MS Support Group ever had… for many reasons. She said the topic at every meeting still is Magic. It has been months since we did it but we sure made an impact she said.

Again our WindChill t-shirts were very noticeable. They noticed our WindChill buttons.I told them a little about WindChill. Some of the people asked if Magic.

In the community room the residents were so expressive at how Magic made them feel. We heard many times, “She’s so beautiful.” “Magic made my day.” “She is really something.”

One resident said, “That is a pretty big dog.” Another said, “She doesn’t weigh enough. Put some meat on her.”

One woman said, “I never petted a horse before. They were so big on the farm.” Another woman said, “A horse– isn’t she afraid of us?”

One little girl yelled PUPPY when she saw Magic. Everyone laughed. She kept telling her Grandma, Mom, Grandpa and Great Grandma to PET her. I took the little girl by the hand to pet Magic. The first thing she did was put her hands on Magic’s back and lay her head down on Magic’s back and just sigh. She stayed that way for about 20 seconds (70 aahs in the background) and then stroked Magic all over. We gave her a few minutes and then had to move on to others. The girl did not understand that. She wanted more time. Her mom told her she had to share the horse with the other people and we would come around again which we did.

One man said Magic was too small to ride but good for walking.

One resident moved Magic’s hair out of the way. “I just want to see your eyes.”

One woman said the first time she went near a horse it bit her in the boob. “This is a much nicer experience.” she said.

One resident refused to pet Magic. She said she was raised to have animals outside and not inside.

Many of the staff asked us for WindChill Legacy brochures. At other places it is usually us doing the asking. They had 20 youth volunteers that day. I had brought WOW brochures, magnets, pencils, and pens for them.

We went around the circle twice. People could not get enough of Magic. A special needs man, that Carole had see often at her workplace coming with his parents, wanted his picture taken with Magic and wanted a copy. Of course there were confidentiality rules in place and we could not. However the next day I did go back and left a framed picture of Magic for him with the words, “I was very excited to meet you Michael.

As we left we heard many voices say, “Bring her back.” It was hard to leave.

After the community room, Magic went out for a break. We still had rooms to visit. As we were leaving the community room, the activity director stopped us to show us a lady. She had come down to see Magic. The activity director told us that they could not get this lady out of bed for a couple of days and were really surprised she was here. They could not get a lot of reaction from her these days and here they were seeing so much interaction. The staff asked the woman if she wanted to get up and go for a ride on Magic. The woman laughed but asked if Magic could stay with her in her room. Kathi told the woman, “Tie Magic to your wheel chair and when you see a break go for it and hide her in your room. It will take a day before anyone will notice.” Kathi always brings such joy and laughter with these BOLD quips of hers.

Magic walked down the long hallway out to the trailer. We told the janitorial staff that we were taking Magic out for a 10 minute break to do her business. One replied, “Oh we like that.”

After her break, Magic went in the front door right up to the raffle table to look around. She had to examine everything. She actually put her head on the table and sniffed. They had 6 great prizes. There was a basket with the folded up raffle tickets and Magic put her nose in there. Kathi said any basket is a curiosity for her. We explained how we really have a horse pick out our raffle winners at our BBQ. Magic cleared out all the office personnel and just thrilled the lady selling tickets. There was a lot of laughing going on. Magic’s personality just gets everyone involved, smiling, and laughing. They could not believe how curious she is and what a gentle touch she has. Nothing tipped over. (Again Kathi is incredible at trusting Magic with these new experiences. What a life Magic leads, being given the freedom to exercise her curiosity.)

As we were walking down the hall 2 visitors were hurrying to leave. The woman walked past Magic but the guy couldn’t resist raking his hands across Magic’s butt as he passed by her.

One resident in bed said she wanted to take Magic to bed with her and hide her under the blanket.

The staff was asking people, “Is it all right if I bring a horse in to see you? One woman’s reply….”Is it for real?”

One staff member was wheeling a man down the hall. She said to him, “Are you seeing horses today Robert ? It might be your meds.”

“Never had a horse in my room before. Thank you I sure enjoyed this”….”Oh my goodness isn’t she precious.”

In the hall I heard a staff member walking by with another staffer. She was telling her about “the great bowel and urinary stamina that the horse has.”

In several rooms there was an oxygen dispersal unit. That used to bother Magic but not anymore.

We walked into another room where a woman was crying. The activity director told us she had had a very rough night. The woman was bending over in a wheel chair with her head in her hands crying. She did not even look up when we came in. The nurse said her name and told her to look. When she did, there was the cutest horse face staring at her. She reacted immediately with, “OH OH she came to see me??????” She put one finger on Magic’s nose and then both hands around Magic’s face. She cried and cried but also started talking to Magic. As she cried and talked to Magic, she started to pet her. She kept thanking us for bringing Magic. She asked if she could hug Magic. Kathi maneuvered Magic so her head was in the ladies arms. It was just raw emotion coming from this woman. The team, Trish, Betty W., Carole, and I all had tears running down our faces.

After that the activity director said we had to move on. She had patients on 2^nd floor for Magic to see. Kathi told the activity director we were not moving. “This is why we are here today for this woman.” Kathi sat on the floor. We all sat wherever we could and stayed with this woman. The activity director repeated her request but Kathi said, “No we will stay here until the time comes we can leave. “ So we stayed for 30 minutes in her room.

During that 30 minutes, we heard the woman talking it all out with Magic, telling her about her rough night through the sobs, asking for more Kleenex, scratching Magic, petting her. Trish, Betty W., Carole, and I kept tearing up. The woman was crying her heart out to this horse. We felt so bad for her. The sadness was sooooooooo deep.

Magic was a rock. The woman could do anything to her….touch her nose, pull on her halter, pull on her hair, pat her, and hold her ears. Magic understood. She crooked her leg, relaxed and did not move for the 30 minutes (Kathi explained to Magic that that was her job.)

The activity director realizing that were staying with this woman, left us and did other things. She did come back 30 minutes later and told us that staff and clients in Rehab were very excited to see Magic. Could we stop by there…..We did leave but Kathi promised the sad woman we would be back before we left.

In Rehab, one of the clients yelled “Hi Pal!” as Magic walked in. The Rehab staff said they had been waiting and were just as excited as their clients to see Magic.

We did not make it to the 2^nd floor…Kathi wanted to keep her promise. We went back to the room where we stayed. Through the tears we got a smile…in fact several smiles. Her nurse pulled me aside to tell me we were giving her quality of life. “What a difference you made for her.” Of course more tears flowed.

We stayed another 30 minutes with her. Magic again knew how much this woman needed her and stood like a rock again. Her foot was crooked and she did not move an inch. The woman grabbed Magic’s halter and held on to it. Sometimes Magic would move her nose in position to blow hot air on the woman and she would smile. Then amazingly, the woman asked Kathi if she could hold Magic’s lead rope. Kathi gave it to her. One hand was holding the lead rope, the other hand was holding Magic’s halter and there was also a half emptied Kleenex box on her lap. She kept saying through her tears…..“She is so beautiful. “ I love you.” She continued whispering to Magic. “She’s listening to me.” (Not a dry eye anywhere on this team.)

Kathi had to tell her that we could only stay for 15 more minutes. The woman asked, “Can she stay with me while you go to lunch?” We laughed. Kathi told her we could not because Magic needed a bathroom break but we would be back next month to see her. She said thank you and told us to be sure and come to her room. Before we left she asked for a picture of Magic. Again there were confidentiality rules in place and we could not. However the next day I did go back and leave a framed picture of Magic for her with the words, “I loved spending time with you.”

While we were in her room, we all thought of those wonderful raffle prizes and knew we would probably buy some tickets on the way out. Kathi asked Betty W. to go get a stack of tickets and while we were waiting in the room, we could fill them out. Betty got a stack all right…..She got $21.00 worth…..3 for $1.00….63 slips to fill out…..all of us took some and wrote the WindChill Legacy on them. If we win they will be donated to the WindChill Memorial Auction August 14th.

The activity director met us out in the hall. She told us what a fantastic job we did. She told us she realized that we were different from other animal groups. We took our time. It was all about the residents having whatever time they needed with Magic. She apologized for trying to rush us and not giving us more time. She was in a hurry to get us to everyone.

She said not only the residents but the staff wanted to see us come again. She asked us to come on a regular basis. Kathi immediately told her to give me a call and we would be back. She also said that she will work on the issue of making sure that residents get their pictures taken with Magic the next time.

As we were leaving so many of the staff, residents, volunteers, and very enthusiastically the janitors asked us to come again. What a send off.