In Bellevue, tiny picnic table delivers big on joy

Small things can mean so much. Both physically small objects, as well as small gestures.

• Bellevue Medical Center's tiny picnic table, complete with a checkered tablecloth and petite dishes, was meant to draw wildlife closer for cardiac and pulmonary rehab patients and staff to enjoy.
• Then, six months ago, Ira Olson began care - bringing his diabetic therapy dog, Zechariah. Zech, as he's often called, was instantly enraptured.
• The Blue Heeler-Border Collie mix sits quietly and watches the animals outside. "It's like a TV for him," Ira laughed.

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Seeing is believing.

"I love the picture of the squirrel and the rabbit sitting there together. It just signifies so much more I think than just one simple picture," Jesse Paulson, cardiac rehab operations coordinator at Bellevue Medical Center, shared.

The sweet setting - a picnic table about a foot wide and tall, draped in a classic red and white checkered cloth - started, well, small.

"Let's throw a couple random peanuts or something out there and see if we can get the squirrels up close. And then a patient brought the bird feeder in," Paulson recalled.

Then, he explained, a physical therapist made the table. That was last summer.

Employees and patients really do love it. Perhaps none more so than Zechariah.

"It's like a TV for him," Ira Olson laughed.

Zech, as he's often called, is Olson's diabetic therapy dog. Watching him keep watch is something else.

"Every now and then, he'll come around look up at me and see if I'm doing okay. He'll sniff the air," Olson remarked.

A Blue Heeler-Border Collie mix, Zech is trained by scent. He can detect when Olson's sugar levels are too high or too low, and he knows how to respond.

"I'm lost without him. I can't go anywhere without him, and him the same way."

Rehab is working for Olson. His lungs are getting stronger, as he needs half the oxygen today compared to six months ago.

Hearts around the center are getting stronger, too. Part treadmill, but mostly joy from that tiny table.