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Pet therapy carries on late woman’s love of dogs, people

Published in New Britain Herald June 9, 2009
By LISA BACKUS  Staff writer

From left: Ann Minor, Holistic Nurse with resident, Mitzi Kohl

SOUTHINGTON — Longtime New Britain resident Jane Haze died on an overcast December day while trying to rescue her beloved Golden Retriever, Finnley, from the frigid waters of the Farmington River. But her legacy of love for animals and taking care of the sick and elderly lives on in the form of a bouncy Golden Doodle named Jake. “Jake, can you give me a kiss?” said Mitzi Kohl from her wheelchair as she played with the 45-pound black ball of fur in the lobby of the Southington Care Center. “This makes it feel more like home. I’ve had cats all my life and I just like animals but we like Jakie the best.” Jake, a golden retriever/poodle mix, is one of 33 dogs trained through The Jane Haze Memorial Pet Therapy Fund, started after her death in December 2007. He and the other dogs visit the center and other nursing and care facilities, including the Jerome Home in New Britain and The Orchards in Southington, to help provide a lift to elderly patients who often have given up on life. “We had one resident who started feeding themselves again after therapy with Jake,” said his handler, Ann Minor, a holistic nurse with the center. “It just opens up so much for people when he’s here.”

Haze was going through her usual morning ritual of taking Finnley for a morning walk Dec. 27, 2007, when something went terribly wrong. On that day she chose Tunxis Mead Park on the Farmington River. She had walked Finnley at various locations on a regular basis, but the Farmington park was one of the dog’s favorites, Haze’s brother John said in the days after she died.

Police received a call that a dog was in distress on the ice near the boat landing. Finnley was found alone on the ice. But a sharp-eyed police officer noticed a scrap of dark cloth that appeared to be snagged on a jagged edge where the ice had broken. Emergency personnel found Haze’s body a short while later. She was 68. She never married. Finnley was placed with a good owner.

Haze was an avid pet lover who also dedicated her life to serving others as a registered nurse, working in the intensive care unit at New Britain General Hospital and as a visiting nurse with the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Connecticut, where she would make home visits to the sick and elderly, her brother said.

“It’s good to know that her name continues on,” he said. “She had a reputation for liking both people and animals and this is bringing them together.”

He and several of her friends, including Henrietta Bernal, from the VNA and Southington Care Center, who had worked with Haze, decided to start the fund in her name a few months later. The group raises funds to reimburse dog owners for the 10-week class that trains handlers and the dogs to deal with patients and therapy routines.

Jake was one of 10 dogs who graduated in the first class in February. Two other classes, numbering 23 dogs, graduated in May. All will visit, usually one day a week, at the various centers involved in the fund.

“I think he’s the best thing that ever happened here,” said Kohl, who coincidentally was taken care of by Haze when she worked as a visiting nurse in 1992. “I love him. He adds smiles. We’re always happy to see him.”

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