VALDOSTA — PruittHealth partnered with Wild Adventures Theme Park to give Nancy Jones, 69, a chance to live out her dreams to see live animals Thursday morning.

With red slippers, pig tails and a blue and white checkered dress, Jones dressed as Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.” While at the park, she saw lions, tigers, bears and an elephant.

Jones was allowed to feed Shirley the elephant and the two bears on site with supervision from zoo keepers.

Shirley had prepared a gift as well. A painting that the elephant made just for Jones. Along with the painting, Jones was dubbed honorary zookeeper for the day.

In the afternoon, Jones helped feed the tigers during one of the amusement park’s regularly scheduled shows.

Jones said her favorite animal to see was the elephant, but was excited for the second part of her dream.

To complete Jones’ dream, PruittHealth will be giving Jones a hot air balloon ride, if conditions are favorable, said Erica Thrift, activities director for PruittHealth.

PruittHealth’s goal in helping Jones and its other residents achieve their dreams is to help redefine what it means to stay in a long-term, assisted-living facility, she said.

“We try to keep (our residents) alive and keep them going, so they can have a good quality of life,” she said.

While Jones’ dream is a little bit larger, PruittHealth helps residents with smaller dreams all throughout the year, she said. The business helps its residents get college degrees, get married or teach a music class for a day.

When approached about helping with Jones’ dream, Wild Adventures was more than happy to acquiesce to the request.

“Wild Adventures’ mission is to create memories worth repeating,” said Adam Floyd, public relations manager for Wild adventures. “And when we are approached by PruittHealth Crestwood to create an adventure day for Nancy, we jumped at the opportunity to help her realize her dreams.”

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.