LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On a Friday morning at Park Louisville Senior Living, Sandy Cambron and Shannon Blair prepared for a special delivery.
They unfolded three red carts filling them with baby dolls and stuffed puppies. With eyes that sparkle, the dolls are about to be as life-like as you can get.
Blair pointed to one in particular, a grey and white crocheted hat, with elephant ears on each side. It's handmade from one of the many donors who help keep their deliveries going.
Like every other visit to a memory care facility, these baby dolls and stuffed animals are here on a mission.
"Just to be out here again, it’s wonderful," Cambron said. "We’ve missed it so much."
It’s been more than a year since many of the residents inside Park Louisville's Memory Care community have had a visitor, someone to hug, to hold, to talk to.
For a person with dementia or Alzheimer's, there are days of loneliness, forgetfulness and fear.
But on this day, there is joy, thanks to Cambron and Blair.
"Oh my goodness! What a pretty baby, too," one resident remarked as Cambron handed her a baby doll wrapped in a soft blanket to match the hat. "Isn't she beautiful?"
"She’s going to be yours forever," Cambron replied.
About a dozen residents filled a common area waiting their turn, anxious to see what their baby or dog will look like.
For some, they can trigger a memory.
"That must be my Brian," one woman said looking down at her baby. "He had big cheeks. Little fat cheeks."
"I’d take two or three of these if they were real," another resident, who grew up with 9 siblings, said.
No matter what they're thinking inside, what you see in that moment is a smile.
"You’re so sweet, yes you are," one woman says to her baby. "You’re just as pretty as can be."
"Once they pressed them against their chest, it was the most magical thing," Park Louisville's Director of sales and marketing Kieleigh Cote said.
For Cambron, this is where it all began. When her mother-in-law Pearl was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the only thing she and her husband found to soothe her was a baby doll.
"It was just immediate," Cambron said. "You could just see the joy and she never parted with it. When she passed, we just knew what a difference it made, so my husband and I started doing it as often as we could."
In 2018, Pearl’s Memory Babies was born.
"To see the smiles," Cambron said. "I can’t explain it. It’s heartwarming,"
She and Blair have since delivered babies to more than 1,500 residents and counting, at memory care facilities across Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
"It never gets old," Blair said. "Because it’s all different. We can relate to everyone because we’ve been there. We’ve been caretakers."
When Sandy is asked, 'is it real?' she never answers.
"Because it’s what they want it to be," Blair said. "If it’s real to them, it’s real. If it’s not, it still comforts them."
They spent time with each resident before going to the next and after the last person in the room received their gift, Blair and Cambron headed for the veteran's wing. It's the most men they've ever delivered to on a visit.
"I brought you a puppy with a flag bandana," Cambron said, as she placed a puppy on a man's walker. Two other veterans were sitting in the dining room.
It’s an instant connection.
"I love him," one of the men said.
They made their way into rooms where residents may be bed-ridden, cautious not to miss anyone.
"I think sometimes people forget, they forget about our veterans, so that was one of the highlights of my day," Cote said.
"It’s still emotional, because, I go back to my mom," Blair said. It’s therapeutic and very emotional and I wouldn’t change a thing and I’m so happy to be able to do this."
Back in the common room, residents gazed at their newfound loves.
"That’s quite a smile, isn’t it?" one woman said to a friend. "Wouldn’t it be nice if the whole world could smile like that?"
And with that, the hearts of everyone listening melted. Mission accomplished.
Pearl's Memory Babies is only able to deliver what you can donate. Every penny of your tax deductible donation goes to purchasing more babies and puppies to deliver to Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients.
►Contact reporter Brooke Hasch at bhasch@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Hasch) and Facebook.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.