aichudechu

I understand that it’s for several reasons: first, many elderly patients with dementia, vision problems, memory issues, etc can be at risk of injury due to all those problems. Many cannot tell that they are interacting with a robotic pet as the pets have been designed to create sensations that are similar to a real animal. Real animals also don’t sit still in people’s laps for hours on end and put up with petting that might not always be gentle or avoid poking eyes/other sensitive areas. The robotic pets can be very calming to people who aren’t able to move around or interact with animals like cats otherwise, and it minimizes risk for the facility for accidents/injuries for patients who are fragile. A family member runs a nursing home and they have told me there’s a lot of people who love the robotic pets - it may not be good for everyone but some people really respond to robot pets, baby dolls they may think are real babies they need to cuddle, etc.

As for why live pets are so good in nursing homes, I really recommend listening to this great episode of Reply All about a man who has made it his mission to “fix” nursing homes. There’s a great story about birds loose in the salon area and how one of the major issues is that routine is the silent killer, ergo many things that cause gentle disruptions, funny situations, etc to occur really perks up residents and gives them something new to look forward to and talk about.

That shows how bad Caltrain is when you can honestly say BART is infinitely better.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is one of the most gorgeous places I've ever seen - it's like the image of paradise. Sounds like an amazing work assignment!

My understanding is that the state does not generally release "extra" funds to a public university because of these circumstances. It's just shuffling money between existing budget categories, or using up a chunk of the funds in a particular unrestricted or long-term bucket because it's better than using them towards the inevitable lawsuits he describes, and at least makes students and their parents feel like you're doing something. The university also has to answer to the state and federal legislators that try to use these events as a reason to cut budgets further, which makes them a no-win situation other than doing the best possible job to protect the students, the campus property, and the rights of all involved.

Check out the NUMTOTs group on Facebook. Tons of urban design and planning students and professionals there with lots of contacts, and it's super active.