Act of kindness pays off in licks and tail wags

Learning that UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital (LPH) Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Nina Barrett, went above and beyond to care for and comfort a patient wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows her.

But learning that, as a result of that care, Barrett adopted a dog surprised everyone who knows her.

Her fear of dogs began in childhood. Even as an adult, whenever friends’ furry family members approached, “I was the one who backed away,” Barrett said. When her son asked for a dog for his birthday every year, “He might as well have been asking for a pet grizzly bear.”

One patient changed all that.

The elderly patient had no known family, other than a niece who also lived in a senior care facility. But the patient’s “baby” was a little white Maltese named Lulu. When the patient’s condition deteriorated and her legal guardian asked if Lulu could come to LPH for a last goodbye, Barrett didn’t hesitate to take all the necessary steps to make that possible. (She knew that other people liked dogs.) When the guardian began talking about what might become of Lulu when her owner was gone, something happened that Barrett still can’t comprehend.

I don’t know what came over me,” she recalled. “I said, ‘what if I took her?’ it was like ghosts took over my body.”

Next thing Barrett knew, the guardian “takes Lulu and plops her in my arms. It was the first time I ever held a dog in my life.” Then, the guardian snapped a photo. Barrett texted it to her husband and said: “I think we should adopt this dog.”

His response: “‘Who are you and what have you done with my wife?’”

And that is how Lulu moved from a sedate life in an assisted living facility to a lively household where Barrett’s energetic kids, 9-year-old Oren and 7-year-old Rami, fight over who gets to play with her.

“For me, owning a dog was in the same category as walking on the moon or winning an Olympic medal, it was that unlikely” Barrett said. “I can’t put into words how out of character this was for me.”

The dog-owning part, sure. But the compassion and caring part – that isn’t out of character at all.

Lulu may be four-legged pay back for all the care Barrett has given others. Working in hospice and palliative care isn’t easy. But coming home to Lulu’s wagging tail and happy face is the ultimate stress relief. “She’s become so dear to us. She makes us laugh every day. She’s the thing I didn’t even know our family needed. She’s like our therapy dog.”

Knowing how well-loved Lulu is now surely would make her former owner smile, too.