Nursing home resident treated to special circus
Exotic animals and chipper staff provide a perfect day.
Nursing home resident treated to special circusExotic animals and chipper staff provide
a perfect day.Betty Goltzene (left) and her husband of 56 years, Phil, a patient at Eaglewood Village Care Center, enjoy the company of an albino wallaby presented by Whitney Snow, an animal program specialist from the Columbus Zoo, during a circus-themed party for Phil on Tuesday. The event was made possible by Crossroads Hospice in Dayton. Staff Photo by Barbara J. Perenic By Brandon Smith-Hebson, Staff Writer
July 19, 2011
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO — “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Phil Goltzene, 77, as baby exotic animals were shepherded out the door of Eaglewood Village Care Center at the conclusion of his specially requested circus.
Goltzene speaks softly when he does speak, the victim of old age and its diseases. Betty Goltzene, his wife of 56 years and lively as ever, enjoys taking care of him.
Which is why she, too, had such a good time Tuesday afternoon, when she sat next to him through the popcorn, cotton candy, clowns and animals provided by Crossroads Hospice.
“You just want to thank everybody,” Betty said, “because it was so wonderful.”
The organization tries to provide a “perfect day” to all its patients, a spokesperson said, and this was the one Betty chose for her husband.
Goltzene was a lover of circuses when he could get to them, she said. The lobby of the nursing home, crowded with other residents and staff members during the show, was plastered with circus posters Goltzene had collected through the years.
As the Columbus Zoo can only bring smaller animals to its traveling events, their chipper staff members mostly handled baby animals.
First came a curious dingo, who brought smiles to the faces of rows of people in wheelchairs. Then a shy 10-month-old black-footed African penguin. Then a baby wallaby in a pouch imitating its mother’s.
When time came for the leathery-brown armadillo, the handler offered it to Goltzene to touch first.
“I don’t want no armadillo,” Goltzene said.
His family, seated around him, laughed along.
Goltzene speaks softly when he does speak, the victim of old age and its diseases. Betty Goltzene, his wife of 56 years and lively as ever, enjoys taking care of him.
Which is why she, too, had such a good time Tuesday afternoon, when she sat next to him through the popcorn, cotton candy, clowns and animals provided by Crossroads Hospice.
“You just want to thank everybody,” Betty said, “because it was so wonderful.”
The organization tries to provide a “perfect day” to all its patients, a spokesperson said, and this was the one Betty chose for her husband.
Goltzene was a lover of circuses when he could get to them, she said. The lobby of the nursing home, crowded with other residents and staff members during the show, was plastered with circus posters Goltzene had collected through the years.
As the Columbus Zoo can only bring smaller animals to its traveling events, their chipper staff members mostly handled baby animals.
First came a curious dingo, who brought smiles to the faces of rows of people in wheelchairs. Then a shy 10-month-old black-footed African penguin. Then a baby wallaby in a pouch imitating its mother’s.
When time came for the leathery-brown armadillo, the handler offered it to Goltzene to touch first.
“I don’t want no armadillo,” Goltzene said.
His family, seated around him, laughed along.
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