Man’s Best Friend

Calling all dog lovers! Most of us are aware that guide dogs and therapy dogs can provide useful services to their human counterparts, but did you know dogs can be trained to smell changes in glucose levels and alert their diabetic owners to low blood sugar? Did you realize dogs can also be trained to sniff out certain types of cancer in breath, urine and stool samples with over 90% accuracy? Some dogs can even detect when their owners are going to have a seizure, and other dogs are used to calm and assist individuals with Autism and Post Traumatic stress Disorder. Whether dogs are searching for lost civilians in collapsed buildings, guiding the blind to school and work, or bringing comfort to patients in a hospital, we know man's best friend is so much more than a companion; dogs are often life savers.

In appreciation for the bond between people and dogs, the Mildred Bullpitt Memorial Low Vision Support Group is hosting an event this Friday for the entire campus that will be PAWSitively entertaining and interesting for all of the dog lovers at Beatitudes! Join us Friday, April 8th at 10AM for a fascinating presentation from Guide Dogs for the Blind and Diamond Dogz. These organizations train various types of service dogs, and the presenters will be bringing dogs to demonstrate their impressive skills!
Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) is an organization that trains and pairs guide dogs and individuals with visual impairments. Volunteers with GDB can also assist in raising puppies and serve on a GDB Campus where dogs are trained. Our GDB speaker will share a history of the organization, talk about raising puppies for GDB, and demonstrate etiquette when encountering a blind individual and a guide dog.

Diamond Dogz provides training and certification to dogs that work with the deaf and hard of hearing. These dogs are trained to alert their owners to various sounds and dangers. Our speaker from Diamond Dogz will give background information about the organization, demonstrate a hearing dog's skills, and share information about other ways dogs assist people in therapeutic and service-oriented capacities. Both organizations work with dogs to increase independence, safety, and confidence among individuals with impairments. But whether or not you have any type of impairment, the presentation will be entertaining, enlightening, and probably…pretty adorable. *

Author Info: Beatitudes Campus

At the foundation of Beatitudes Campus is the vision of Church of the Beatitudes pastors and congregation members to create a better alternative for older adults than the nursing homes of the early 1960s. The type of community they imagined was the first of its kind in Arizona. Beatitudes Campus is proud to continue the legacy of our founders, by being a leader in the field of aging services for over 50 years.