ProMedica Hospice Fulfilled Patient’s Heart’s Desire to Visit the Animals at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium

ProMedica Hospice serving Northwest Ohio (Fremont, OH) learned that Josephine, patient, wanted to visit the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium for her Heart’s Desire. Josephine is 96 years old and is originally from England. She served in the British Army as a nurse and when she came to America, she was a hospice volunteer for 20 years.

When Shantae, social worker, would visit with Josephine they would often talk about animals and her trips to the zoo and learned how much Josephine wanted to visit the zoo again. Shantae wanted to help Josephine with her Heart’s Desire and worked with Tana Benford, vice president of development and membership at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium, to make her wish come true. Tana was able to secure tickets for Josephine and her care team along with a special experience to feed the giraffes at Tower Ridge and a train ride on the Safari Railway.

ProMedica Air and Mobile transported Josephine to the Toledo Zoo and she was greeted with a gift from Ismael Garza, security technician at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium. Ismael gave Josephine the VIP treatment taking her around the zoo to see all the animals and spoke with her about each animal she saw. “It’s always a pleasure to spend time with a visitor who loves the Zoo and the animals as much as we do,” shared Ismael.

“It was a good day, I love animals and watching them is very interesting. The zoo is one of my favorite places,” said Josephine.

Thank you to the ProMedica Hospice team, ProMedica Air and Mobile team, Tana, Ismael and all the employees at the Toledo Zoo who helped to make Josephine’s Heart’s Desire come true.