In August 2023, OSF received an urgent referral from Adult Social Services for a lady, ‘Enid’, aged 73, who was in hospital and needed to stay in overnight but was close to self-discharging as she had no one to feed and look after her beloved 12-year-old dog, ‘Honey’. Social Services were requesting help for someone to go and check on the dog and feed her.
Unfortunately, when Our Special Friends called back, the Social Worker who had referred Enid wasn’t working and the person on duty wasn’t aware of the situation. Luckily, Enid’s son had managed to arrange for the neighbour to check on the dog that night.
Enid doesn’t have a strong support network around her that can help as her son lives 50 miles away and there have been a lot of fallings out within the family so no other help was available. Due to this, the son was feeling exhausted and experiencing care giver burden, meaning foster care for Honey was urgently needed.
Honey experiences separation anxiety if left alone as she is used to the company of Enid 24/7, However, within three days of OSF receiving the referral, OSF had found a perfect match of fosterer as the volunteer, ‘Rebecca’, works from home. A WhatsApp group was created with Enid’s son and granddaughter as well as Rebecca. This allowed regular updates to be sent and the granddaughter shared the photos with Enid when she visited her in hospital. This provided great comfort to Enid knowing Honey was being well cared for. Rebecca looked after Honey for three days before she was returned home.
In less than a week, Enid was back in hospital and Honey needed fostering again. Thankfully, Rebecca was available to look after the dog again. This time it was nine days before Enid and Honey could be reunited. During this time, Honey ventured into town and experienced her first ‘puppicino’ (left). She also provided much comfort to Rebecca’s teenage daughter.
Rebecca said: “Honey is a really chilled vibe and her being here is helping my daughter massively as well. She has had a tough time at school over the past year and the girl friendship dynamic drama gets a bit much for her at times, so Honey seems to have done her the world of good as well… She’s been the best house guest. Such a lovely, lovely girl…We love her so much!!”
Enid’s son said: “You are all heroes, mother will forever [be] in your debt, it is the knowing for her, she is so attached to Honey. Everything you are doing is much appreciated – thank you – and it is taking so much worry and pressure off…We’ve been loving the photos and updates.” Enid’s granddaughter said: “Thank you so much for how much love and reassurance you are giving Honey to make her feel settled. I’ve been showing my Nan the pictures daily and letting her know what Honey has been up to which makes her smile.”
