Mini-Horse Visit At Hope Center

As featured in the Washington Heights Patch

- June 12, 2017

Original story ran in the Washington Heights Patch

The Hope Center on University Avenue in the Bronx is not your everyday nursing home and rehabilitation facility. This 66-bed center focuses on people who are living with AIDS, and although the residents here have many similar activities like at other post-acute care facilities, there are specific programs that focus on living with HIV and AIDS. One program that reaches across the board is the mini therapy horse program designed to uplift the spirits of residents at the facility and on Monday, June 5th, the horses came and the residents loved it.

"When the mini-horses comes to visit us, the residents seem to forget about their disease for a little while and their faces light up like the sun," said Joseph Wright, Recreation Director at The Hope Center. "Just seeing the people smile and laugh when the horses are next to them is the most beautiful site to see."

The mini-horses needed to make three 90-minute visits that day and since the Hope Center was first, the residents were ready to give the biggest hugs and kisses to these friendly mini-horses.