[ExI] Older New Yorkers get more anti-loneliness robot pets

[BillK]

June 3, 2024
NYSOFA Expands Animatronic Pet and Intergenerational Games Initiatives
to Combat Loneliness and Related Health Risks
U.S. Surgeon General Has Declared Loneliness and Isolation a Public
Health Crisis
Over 31,000 Animatronic Pets Delivered to Isolated Older New Yorkers
Data Shows Pets Help Reduce Loneliness, Isolation and Pain.

<https://aging.ny.gov/news/nysofa-expands-animatronic-pet-and-intergenerational-games-initiatives-combat-loneliness-and>

Quotes:
The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) today announced it is
launching phase 6 of its animatronic pet initiative and phase 2 of its
intergenerational game project in partnership with Ageless Innovation,
delivering 4,725 animatronic pets and games to older adults through
New York State’s aging network. Since 2018, NYSOFA has distributed
31,500 animatronic pets to older adults who are socially isolated and
lonely – a program that has since been replicated in over 30 states.

Community Health Center of the North Country Program Director Susan
Schrader said, “I have seen first-hand the power of these pets in the
hands of lonely older adults. One individual immediately comes to
mind: a 97-year-old woman with well-established dementia. While well
cared for at home, she exhibited boredom and confusion, spending many
hours in front of a TV that she couldn’t see because of her condition.
She received an animatronic cat while on hospice care – and it was
transformational. Protective and nurturing of her newfound companion,
she petted it, tended to its paws, and talked to it every time it
meowed. That is the power of pets.”
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BillK