Patients ‘leap out of bed’ to see P.E.I. horse who visits palliative facility
CHARLOTTETOWN — It’s not unusual for patients at a P.E.I. palliative care facility to look out their windows and see a familiar horse staring back at them.
Billy the Norwegian Fjord horse visits the Provincial Palliative Care Facility in Charlottetown every week as part of a unique equine-assisted therapy program, peering into large ground-level windows and greeting patients, their families and staff in the hospital’s green space.
“I’ve had people who have said that Billy made their husband laugh one more time. We have people who leap out of bed who come to see him,” said Dr. Mary McNiven, Billy’s owner and a professor at the Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College.
“They are living in the moment, which we all should be doing a bit more of, and if you can experience the horse and think about him and talk about his day and what he’s been up to, it’s huge for those patients… It gives them something else to think about and something else to care about.”