The Delta Society Beyond Limits Awards are quite special and all of the nominees this year are truly unbelievable. Two out of the five nominees are Golden folks, however, so we are slightly (lol) biased as to who we’d like to see win.
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Maggie Crawford & Golden Madison
MAGGIE CRAWFORD of Pasadena, CA and Madison, her 12-year old Golden Retriever, are one of five finalist teams for the Delta Society’s 2007 Beyond Limits Award as Pet Partners Team of the Year. They have regularly visited every nursing unit at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena since 1997, specializing in the Pediatric and Neurological/Brain Mapping units and the Surgical Waiting room. This carries on a longtime tradition for Maggie, who co-founded the Animal Assisted Activities/Therapy program at the hospital in 1987 with Madison’s predecessor, Monty, and now trains every Huntington team.
Maggie and Madison are especially proud of one young pediatric patient who they worked with for more than five years. They visited her weekly, many times Madison lying beside her in the Intensive Care Unit, helping bring her through over 35 surgical procedures, a five organ transplant and to a miraculous recovery. Among their nominators are a clinical psychologist and a pediatric surgeon, who wrote with great admiration of their work, which also includes visiting homeless families in the Pasadena area. Recently the Pasadena Humane Society recognized Madison for her volunteer work at the hospital.
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Connie Gates & Golden Katie
CONNIE GATES of Huntsville, AL and her partner, Katie, a 12-year-old Golden Retriever, are one of five finalist teams for the Delta Society’s 2007 Beyond Limits Award as Pet Partners Team of the Year. They bring “unconditional acceptance, stress reduction and joy to residents and staff” at Hope Place in Huntsville, a shelter for woman and child victims of domestic violence, wrote one of their nominators. For the past ten years, Katie’s big, wagging Golden tail and her Golden smile have brought the sparkle back into the eyes of many children and parents, adults and seniors, in the shelter, in a local rehabilitation hospital, and in therapy services residences for emotionally disturbed children removed from their families and for neglected children without families.
Connie is a co-founder of Huntsville’s Therapy Partners, Inc., and also serves on the board of the Greater Huntsville Humane Society, which generates many activities for Connie and Katie. They participate in the local Alzheimer’s walk, the annual Christmas parade, and in Therapy Partners’ speakers bureau, making presentations in schools about the work of therapy dogs.
To see all five finalists and VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE, just click here.
