Secret Lives: From Patients to Parrots

Kristen Suarez, OhioHealth emergency department psychiatric clinician, helps patients through some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, and she brings that same care home to a few very colorful companions.

Working primarily at OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital, Suarez evaluates psychiatric patients who arrive for care. Her role is to determine whether someone needs to be hospitalized, can safely go home or would benefit from additional resources.

Outside the emergency department, that compassion extends to Suarez and her wife’s three rescue parrots, each with their own personalities and complex behavioral needs.

Pistachio, an Amazon parrot, is approximately 70 years old. He spent most of his life in a breeding facility before suffering an injury from another bird about a decade ago.

“He’s the old man of our little aviary,” Suarez said. “He spends about 20 hours a day sleeping and the other four hours sitting by the window and listening to music.”

Merlin, a green-wing macaw, came to Suarez after surviving a house fire. After losing the family he had lived with for two decades, Merlin struggled in multiple foster homes.

“The rescue reached out to me and said, ‘We have this bird and we think he’d be a good fit,’” Suarez said. “Within a day he was totally fine. He’s been my best friend for four years.”

Mya, a scarlet macaw, was attacked at just one week old due to poor breeding conditions, losing all of her toes, half of a wing, and sustaining a beak injury that later healed. She spent years with another family before eventually ending up with Suarez.

“She has a lot of spunk, but she also can be quite a handful. She’s our little terror,” Suarez said lovingly.

Despite their size and reputation, she said most people are surprised by how calm life with her birds actually is.

“People assume they must be squawking and flying around at all hours,” she said. “But in reality, they’re quiet most of the time.”

None of the three birds are able to independently fly for different reasons. Pistachio is elderly and blind, Mya lacks the physical ability due to her wing injuries and Merlin struggles with muscle wasting and cardiovascular endurance following his trauma. To help Merlin build strength, Suarez works with him daily.

“I just put him on my arm and say, ‘You want to go for a fly?’ He gets to flapping and starts doing his little fly. He’s always so proud of himself,” she said.

Suarez said caring for parrots has taught her patience and how to stay grounded when emotions run high. These skills help in her psychiatric care work too, meeting vulnerable beings where they are and helping them heal.

“I feel honored to be able to take in these birds that were already brought into the pet trade and give them that final home,” she said. “Hopefully, give them more years than they would have gotten before.”

Secret Lives is an ongoing series that shares the unusual past careers and unique hobbies of OhioHealth associates, physicians and volunteers.