New Handbook Offers Path to Pet–Patient Partnerships

Society’s attitudes towards pets are changing. We’ve gone from keeping pets outside to putting them in our beds. We are more pet-friendly than ever, but our institutions haven’t caught up,” said Steve Feldman, executive director of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute. HABRI has partnered with the National Council on Aging’s National Institute of Senior Centers to develop a new pet-friendly handbook, Older Adults and Animal Programing (http://bit.ly/2FQLj0C). The guide highlights the scientific research behind human–animal interactions with older adults, offers sample pet-related policies for centers, and provides an array of resources.