She may be only 22 months old, but Millie Farley has been working her magic on Alzheimer's patients almost from the day she was born. Along with her mother, she's been volunteering at the Glebe Centre with patients for a year and a half.
On this floor, she's the only tiny tot many of them will see -- working the room, teddy in hand, holding hands and prompting often very stoic patients to burst into song.
"What a pretty girl," exclaims one patient of the beaming toddler.
Her mother, Beth, started bringing Millie shortly after moving to Ottawa from England.
"We don't have any extended family in this country, and I thought how sad for Amelia not to have any family," she explains.
"You see people that come in and they're not really aware of what's going on, and they see Millie and their faces light up and that makes it all worthwhile."
Bringing her child to the centre allows Millie to have an adopted family, adds Beth. Like Glebe Centre resident Audrey Foster, for example.
"She's a tiny little thing and so sweet, so cute," Foster says.
For Penny Kelly, Millie's visits are often the only opportunity to glimpse the father she once knew.
"I just see him light up like he used to, what he used to be," Kelly says. "If he can go to a place that makes him happy, it's tremendous what these children can bring to him."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr
