Pets provide touch therapy

Elia Powers

When Michelle Wulfestieg makes house visits or drops by long-term

care facilities, she likes to bring visitors.

Two of her favorites are Daisy, a light-colored Great Pyrenees,

and Seamus, a black Labrador. They are pet therapy dogs who are

trained to be tranquil while hospice patients, such as Jeanne

Suddendorf, touch their fur.

Suddendorf, a Costa Mesa resident who has multiple sclerosis,

smiled for five minutes Wednesday morning as the canines stood on

both sides of her wheelchair.

It’s these interactions that satisfy 23-year-old Wulfestieg,

volunteer coordinator for the Orange County branch of Odyssey

HealthCare, one of the largest hospice-care providers in the country.

“We only have one chance to give our patients’ lives quality --

one chance to do it right,” said Wulfestieg, who recently moved to

Costa Mesa.

She travels to see terminally ill patients -- ones who are

diagnosed to have six months or less to live -- wherever they are.

Some of her clients stay at Victoria Healthcare Center, a Costa

Mesa nursing home, where Suddendorf has lived for five years.

The services Wulfestieg and other registered hospice caregivers

provide are for comfort, not medical purposes.

About 200 patients use Odyssey’s services in Orange County, said

Terry Ferencik, the Odyssey general manager who hired Wulfestieg last

summer.

“Her calling was hospice care, and she has shown she has what it

takes to do the job,” Ferencik said. “It’s clear this is her

passion.”

Wulfestieg’s interest in healthcare grew out of a traumatic

childhood episode.

When she was 11 years old, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage --

blood vessels had burst in her brain.

She underwent the first of two radiation treatments in 1994 and

had paralysis on the right side of her body.

“My face was swollen, my hair was falling out,” she said. “It was

very hard to face my classmates. After going through this experience,

I wanted to devote my life to helping others.”

She still has limited movement in her right hand and foot.

That doesn’t stop her from grabbing hold of Seamus’ leash or

hugging a nursing home resident who she hasn’t seen in months.

Wulfestieg said she enjoys the personal interaction.

Two years ago, while a psychology student at California Lutheran

University, Wulfestieg began making a weekly visit to see a

terminally ill patient in Thousand Oaks.

“She had suffered a stroke, so we were able to relate to each

other’s health problems,” Wulfestieg said.

She wrote a six-page biography of the woman’s life and read

excerpts at her memorial service. The woman’s family members told

Wulfestieg they were touched by the eulogy and that they hadn’t heard

many of the stories she told.

At Odyssey, Wulfestieg has continued the regular patient visits.

She proudly speaks of a recent gift given to a hospice patient.

Dream Foundation, a national wish-granting organization, gave the man

-- whose facial features had nearly dissolved due to untreated

malignant melanoma -- a hearing aid to prevent complete hearing loss.

Wulfestieg said hospice patients can request gift items or

specific visitors. Many, like Suddendorf, choose the therapy dogs.

“Often times the last thing to go is touch,” Odyssey’s Ferencik

said. “Even if people can’t open their eyes, they can feel things

around them. It’s comforting to pet an animal.”

Added Wulfestieg: “If a patient is unresponsive, having a dog

around can bring them out. It reminds them of when they were at

home.”

Perhaps Victoria Healthcare Center resident Joan Kliora put it

best:

“Those dogs, they are really beautiful,” she said.