Health Care

Boston Globe - When there's no place like home for health care

As Nicole Baxter opens the door to the modest but cozy apartment lit by midday sunlight, Coco runs to greet her. 

Baxter, a visiting nurse, pets Coco, a Burmese cat with glowing green eyes, and murmurs in between her ears, "How you doing today, Coco?"

Coco's owner, Ellen Belden, watches as her 9-year-old companion welcomes her visitor.

Today, Belden, who pets Coco with hands gnarled from years of battling rheumatoid arthritis, has a bandage on her left arm, and Baxter quickly takes notice.