Friday, July 3, 2009

New Hospice Service For Pets: Pet Peace Of Mind



Jack Black McNac was adopted adopted from Pet Peace of Mind.


What happens to pets when their owners have terminal illnesses? Unfortunately, many of them end up in already overcrowded shelters. But Pet Peace Of Mind, a program developed by the Rev. Delana Taylor McNac for the Hospice of Green County Inc. in Tulsa, has a solution that's good for the patient and good for the pet.

Hospice is a home care concept for those who are terminally ill and prefer to receive palliative care in their homes until their death occurs naturally.

Most of us realize how supportive a pet can be to a terminally ill person. A pet's instinctive knowledge that his owner is sick calls on his most loving instincts to be there for his very special friend.

That's what Rev. McNac realized when she developed the Pet Peace of Mind program. She is a Hospice chaplain and, coincidentally, a former veterinarian. Her new program, which depends only on donations, helps to provide pet supplies, pet care, transportation to pet services, and many other necessary service just for the Hospice patient's companion pet. Though it is encouraged that a patient determines where the pet will go after his death, or that families arrange for a well-matched placement of the pet, Pet Peace of Mind will work will local rescue groups to help place pets after their owners have passed away.

Pet Peace of Mind is up and running in the home town of its originator, Tulsa, OK, and more than 100 Hospice centers are interested in developing the program already. McNac hopes that by this time next year 7 to 10 Hospice programs will have been started.

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