LUMBERTON, Texas — An assisted living facility in Lumberton offers animal therapy.
The Haven Assisted Living Facility is located at 7492 Neely Drive and animals roam this property providing therapy to the people living there.
An animals lovers dream and it's the only one of it's kind in Texas.
Co-owner Daniel Duplechin says having animals to interact with could help improve the quality of life for seniors.
"Studies involving seniors and animals have show that seniors who have something to care for lived happier lives and were less likely to get depression. Being in long term care, depression with the elderly is something that a lot of people deal with. so having these animals just raises your spirits," he said.
Duplechin says he got the idea of using animal or Equine Therapy at the Haven Assisted Living Facility from his daughter.
"We have two horses Darla and Casper, and then we have two miniature donkeys who were donated by a friend, and then we have two miniature ponies," he said.
Duplechin has been in "long-term" health care for the past 20 years.
"I've always had a passion for caring for people, whether it be elderly or kids. I guess I just have a soft heart for that. I think people either have that or you don't," he said.
He's also the co-owner of two other nursing home facilities in Southeast Texas, Oak Grove Nursing Home in Groves and Golden Years Assisted Living in Orange, and says this time he wanted to try something new.
Duplechin says he is dedicating this facility in the memory of his late business partner, Greg Gooch, who passed away during the project.
"Gooch was instrumental in the design and plan for 'The Haven Assisted Living,'" he said.
"People do a lot of pet therapy in nursing homes and assistant living. It's usually just somebody bringing in a dog or a calf or something like that, and that's great, but that's one visit. With this concept, we bring it to them daily," he said.
This project in Lumberton took about three years to come together.
"We're just outside city limits so we didn't have to have any special type of permits or anything like that. We took an existing house and we completely gutted it with all new construction and that provided 16 private rooms," he said.
The facility already has two residents.
And Duplechin is ready to welcome even more to enjoy the land and the animals roaming free.
"We plan to have sessions with them where we'll get some of the miniature donkeys out and let them love on them and pet them an make that apart of activities," he said.
Duplechin says they plan to also get some chickens and miniature cows to add to the lineup of animals.
Prices for the rooms range from $4,800 to $6,000 a month depending on the room. If you can't afford a facility like this for your loved one, Duplechin recommends getting them an older animal that won't cause them to trip or fall or simply just visit them.
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