This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to do a presentation at the Oklahoma State Social Worker Conference. The title of my presentation was "Pets and Patients: The Human-Animal Bond in Life and Death." The room was packed and the audience was wonderful. Social workers in general are such great, caring people, but to see them take in what I was saying with such open hearts was a tremendous blessing for me. They seemed very touched by the stories I told about our patients and their pets and also seemed to connect with the information and the scientific data that I presented. My hope is that they will take that information and a new perspective back to their own clients (and I think many of them will!)
One of the social workers brought her two dogs, Buddy Boo and Gypsy Rose Lee, in for the presentation. When she shared her story about how the two dogs came to live with her and her husband, it was the perfect introduction to my topic. I am so humbled when things come together like that and so very glad to get to do what I do.