Maura Dimond, a resident of Wood Haven Health Care, originally came to the facility for physical therapy. She gave up her cat, Paisley, when she moved into Wood Haven – not knowing that she would have been allowed to bring her pet.
So Wood Haven Health Care’s Dare-to-Dream program found another cat for Dimond.
“She has talked about wanting a cat,” said Chris Stearns, community relations director at Wood Haven Health Care.
So when an aide at the facility had a cat who gave birth to a litter of kittens, she decided one of the kittens should go to Dimond.
“I’ve always had cats,” Dimond said after meeting her black kitten.
“They are cuddly, and they are definitely entertaining for me,” she said.
Dimond named her kitten Finn. “I looked in the baby name book,” she said.
The kitten provides many bright spots in her days, Dimond said.
This is the fifth Dare-to-Dream request granted at Wood Haven. The program was created to show residents that even at their advanced ages, some of their dreams can still come true.
Most of the dream requests fall into the categories of:
- Dream to go somewhere, like a sporting event, concert, Cedar Point or senior prom.
- Dream to be someone for a day, like a firefighter, coach, zookeeper or chef.
- Dream to get something like a computer, new suit or new dress.
- Dream to take an adventure, like a hot air balloon ride, a motorcycle ride, or train ride.
Wood Haven accepts donations from the public to help the facility make the dreams of residents come true.
“It’s all run on donations,” Stearns said.
