Harbour Village Employee is Recipient of the 2009 Aurora Spirit of Caring Award
Bruce and Maggie
2009 Aurora Spirit of Caring Award Winners
Bruce Meier, Maintenance Director at Harbour Village, and his dog, Maggie, are registered members of Therapy Dogs International (TDI). Together, they have been providing pet therapy to the patients of Aurora Sinai Medical Center for about 2 years. They travel to the patient’s rooms to help enhance their stay at the hospital by providing them with companionship and pet therapy. Bruce has even said that patient’s blood pressures have dropped when petting Maggie!
Every year, Aurora, a non-profit Wisconsin integrated health care provider, along with Planetree, a non-profit organization that provides education and information to healthcare organizations to help them create patient centered care in healing environments, awards select staff, physicians and therapy pets and their handlers with a 2009 Aurora/Planetree Spirit of Caring Award.
Bruce and Maggie were recently announced as winners of the National 2009 Spirit of Caring Award for their pet therapy work. This honor is awarded to those that provide an exceptional holistic approach to patient care. Bruce and Maggie will be honored in November at Aurora’s Fall Leadership Meeting. They will also be featured in an article that will appear in Aurora Today and Aurora I.
In addition to his work at Aurora, Bruce recently created TDI Chapter 211 so that he and other handlers and dogs can provide therapy to the residents of Harbour Village. “I wanted to help recently certified TDI handlers and dogs gain experience so I created TDI Chapter 211,” said Bruce. “It’s the best of both worlds! The TDI handlers and dogs get the experience they need and the residents have a lot of fun!”
Congratulations Bruce and Maggie! Your continued efforts at both Aurora and Harbour Village of Greendale are most appreciated.
