>> Good morning.
>> Sorry, it's a little early, but just in time for my morning
scrub.
>> So Molly very hairy. But she has some little bumps under
the skin, so she doesn't like it brushed. So what I do is
before taking her to the visit, the senior's I try to get as
much hair off of here. You can see the hair flying.
Fresh and clean.
>> Time to go. But first, a little breakfast
>> before work.
>> My mom calls it volunteering, but I always get
paid in belly
rubs.
>> Molly is 14 years old and she used to belong to my
mother-in-law for 10 years. So when she was 10 when she
came to live with us, Molly, and I've been together for 4
years being a part of Fairfax Pets On Wheels, but two of the
years were during the pandemic. So things are a little
different then.
>> Fairfax Pets on Wheels is an all volunteer organization
that started in 1987 with a mission to provide
companionship and help improve the quality of life for
residents of Fairfax County, nursing homes and assisted
living facilities. And we do that by sharing the love of our
animals, our pet dogs, cats and bunnies with residents in
area nursing homes.
>> Finally, we're here! Oh look! I see my friends and
there goes
my buddy, Koa.
>> Hey Koa! How's it going? Hey, Molly, long time. No
See. Tell me about it. I'm just excited to see all of our
friends. I hope they will be happy to see us too.
>> Numerous scientific studies over the years have shown the
benefits people interacting with companion animals. And
when Fairfax Pets On Wheels goes into an assisted living
facility, that dog or that cat or that little rabbit provides
opportunities to stroke a pet that can lower their blood
pressure, relieve their stress. If they're depressed, we find
that it often helps lift people out of depression, gives them
something to look forward to. I love it, tremendously so.
matter of fact. I wish they came more often. The effect
that we have on
the resident's is that.
>> We just brighten their day. You know, they they may have
family that comes to visit them once a week, but their family
is busy. They may have nurses coming in and out of the nurses
are busy doing their job and we come in and we to say you want
a visitor and they're like, OK, and we just sit there and
talk to them. So it's just a dedicated visitor lights up
their day.
>> Fairfax Pets On Wheels is an all volunteer organization.
There's not a single paid staff person associated with the
organization. So obviously we're looking for people who
love their pets and whose pets. Love people.
>> So Beaker, He's about, he's almost 3 years old. He's a
a golden retriever. Beaker and I enjoy doing obedience and
agility during the COVID shut down. We were not able to visit
at the facilities but Beaker did zoom meetings.
>> Okay. Top 5 dog treats beginning with my personal
favorite peanut butter.
>> So he was on camera with some residents. We just started
coming back to the facilities. So Beaker's been, probably
about 5
months he's been in the facility is working with
residents. Every pet, whether it's a dog, a cat or a bunny
will be evaluated for its temper meant and just see how
it responds in unusual situations. I also do the
temperament testing. So each time a new team wants to come
and be part of the program, their dog has to be tested to
make sure there were comfortable with them visiting
residents during the evaluation. Make sure I can
touch them. I make sure that there comfortable around
wheelchairs and walkers and make sure they can approach
another dog. And we also do the noise sensitivity to make sure
the dogs don't have any noise sensitivity. And we just make
sure that, kind of my standard is would I feel comfortable
with this dog
around my grandmother.
>> There are lots of opportunities with Fairfax,
Pets on wheels, whether you have a pet or not. I mean,
some people have pets, but their pets may not be suitable
for the program. For whatever reason. We have a lot of our
volunteers to participate in other ways whether it's helping
out in the office and doing mailings. We welcome the
talents that anyone wants to bring to us
on our website at P O W Dot Org to find all the contact
information and also what some of those opportunities may be
and how to reach us.