At the end of this week, at least seven of the Mansion residents will have a comfort doll, and by all reports this has been successful at giving them focus and purpose and an outlet for nurture and love.

I said I was going to set out to explore ways of finding out if the eight or nine male residents of the Mansion might also want some sort of comfort doll. None of the men would admit to even considering a life-like doll.

But I sensed they might be more open to dogs or wild animal dolls, something they might more typically associate  with men. I spent some hours trawling online, and I found some research that said male memory and dementia patients did like stuffed dogs or wild animals, as long as they were not referred to as “dolls” or “baby-like dolls.”

I found this small stuffed Cavalier Spaniel doll and it arrived today and I brought it over to the Mansion. I ran into  Wayne coming out of the elevator. He is a great friend of Red.

I took the dog out of a plastic bag and put it in his lap and asked him if he wanted it. Wayne is very quick to say no to things he doesn’t want, he isn’t ever shy about that.

But he lit up instantly and held the dog in his arms and then put him in his lap and said he would love the dog, and I could see by the way he was holding him that this was true.

“What are you going to call him?, ” I asked Wayne.

“I’m going to call him Red,” he answered right away.

Later one of the aides came up to me and said Wayne simply adored his new dog and had placed him in bed so he would be with him when he slept.

A good start to me Men’s Comfort Initiative. We’ll see what happens next. That’s a lot of joy and comfort for $34.95.  I’ll see what we can do for the men.

I also got a life-like cat doll and gave it to Ruth.

She loved it and took it right up to her room where she knew it would be safe. A comfort doll for Alice is coming tomorrow. My wish for the residents this holiday season is that they have joy and whatever they need, within reason and budget.