Seniors at Bayfield Manor were treated to a surprise visit from some furry friends last week.
On Friday, Kathy Enright and Corinne Côté, co-owners of Alpaca Tracks T(h)read Lightly, decided to take two of their alpacas to the long term care facility to bring some joy to the faces of residents and staff.
Enright says what began as a simple window-visit for the seniors, eventually gave way into a practical petting zoo.
“We approached the windows, started with the extended care section of Bayfield, and it was just amazing,” Enright said. “People were reaching their hands out to the window and we eventually brought them inside. It brought tears to our eyes, just to see the joy on their faces.”
The home says residents and staff were thrilled and delighted by the visit.
Côté adds this is something that they’ve been considering doing since the pandemic began.
“We have these beautiful animals we felt we could share,” Côté said. “We certainly thought of doing this before but this year certainly brought it home that we needed to do something, so we decided to act on our thoughts, bring them down and share them with all the lovely people.”
For Enright, who’s father lives in a long-term care home in Quebec, bringing the alpacas to Bayfield hit close to home.
She says she’s hopeful they can do something similar in the near future.
“With COVID, things have really slowed down and all our events have been cancelled. So, we have a little more time on our hands to do this and we thought this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of that, bring the animals in and try and bring joy to others.”
