Photograph of Ormond hospice patient takes home hardware

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

Ormond Beach resident, and Florida Hospital HospiceCare patient, Virginia Richardson is featured in a photo that recently won a silver arts medal.

BY MIKE CAVALIERE | ASSOCIATE EDITOR

A photograph of Ormond Beach resident and Florida Hospital HospiceCare patient Virginia Richardson, with pet-therapy dog Tino, has taken home the second place prize in the 2012 National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Creative Arts Contest, in the Staff/Volunteer category. The photo was shot by Cathy Coates, community liaison at the hospital.

The photograph, titled “Hospice Volunteers Come in All Shapes and Sizes,” captures a Pet Partner visit at Florida Hospital HospiceCare and skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, Avanté, located at 170 N. Kings Road, in Ormond.

Tino, a trained Florida Hospital HospiceCare Pet Partner, visits hospice patients each week, as part of a program that aims to improve the social and emotional health of patients through pet therapy.

“The Pet Partners program ... reduces patients’ isolation, providing entertainment and a distraction from pain and boredom,” said Coates. “Clinical documentation supports the animal-human bond that confirms (a) reduction of blood pressure (and) depression, as well as systemic changes of stress hormones.”

More than 130 photos were submitted for judging.

Call 671-2138 or visit fhhospicecare.org.