Shreveport Senior Gets Special Canine Visit

Two members of the Shreveport Fire Department Canine Search and Rescue Task Force delivered a hot meal to a local senior this morning as part of the Meals on Wheels program.

Volunteer Maureen Kidd and her bloodhound Darcy and Shreveport firefighter Jeffrey Witte and his lab mix Blaze stopped by a Broadmoor-area home to visit with Lyle Anderson, a Meals on Wheels recipient. Kidd said the task force regularly aids local facilities in finding elderly people who may have wandered away from their homes.

"If you're dealing with Alzheimer's or dementia, sometimes you forget, and you think way back in the past," Kidd said. "So, the police departments and the sheriffs, they'll call us and say, 'Hey, somebody wandered away from their home. Can you help us?' And we'd be glad to."

Kidd said Darcy is a 4-year-old bloodhound, and she's a scent-specific trailing dog. The two were successful in locating an elderly woman who had tried to leave the Shreveport house her family gave her to try to go back home to New York.

Witte had his own story to share about how the Meals on Wheels program helped his family.

"My grandparents, about 20 years ago, participated in Meals on Wheels," Witte said. "My granddad had a massive heart attack and my grandmother was older, so she couldn't prepare the meals every day for him, so they took part in Meals on Wheels and it helped them out greatly."

Witte's lab Blaze is a cadaver dog, so she's strictly a recovery canine that searches for deceased individuals. She's been on the team for about a year, and has worked two cases with one recovery.

Caddo Council on Aging Executive Director Mary Alice Rountree said bringing this group in to deliver a meal was a fitting way to wrap up the March for Meals Campaign.

"We started off with the sheriff delivering the meal, and I know Maureen -- I know her from the rescue team, and also she's a pet therapy dog [owner], so I said that would be a perfect way to end our big campaign," Rountree said.

She added that Mr. Anderson is one of the agency's favorite clients. He was all smiles when he answered the door and saw the canine team there.

Rountree reminds you that there's still time to make your donation to Meals on Wheels, which she said is about more than just the food.

"We're the ones that so many times find the person when they've fallen, or something's happened, so it's a safety check. We deliver more than meals, we deliver hope. We deliver that security check."

She said no gift is too small, and the CCOA can stretch your dollars out to be able to deliver 1,000 meals per day to local seniors in need. CLICK HERE to find out how to donate.

Take a look at photos from this morning's visit: