I have worked in nursing homes for several years...at both nursing homes, where I spent the most time, we always had animals in the nursing home...one nursing home allowed residents to have small animals in their rooms(birds, usually), and then once a week, a visiting group came in with different animals...dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, gerbils, and even a sweet little miniature horse...then when people came to visit their families, they were encouraged to bring in their pets to visit with the seniors...and the workers at both places were also allowed to bring their pets to work with them, so long as the pets could pass the 'animal citizen' test...and both nursing homes had residents dogs, which actually lived at the nursing home..
And the senior residents absolutely loved this...many residents who were almost non responsive to humans, would perk right up and talk to the animals...it was always a win-win situation...the animals got loads of attention, and the residents got unconditional love...
Animals give their unconditional love, and make for better health...humans are lucky to have such wonderful companions...
I'm surprised more Nursing homes don't do exactly what you're saying.
When I was unemployed and trying to feel better about myself, I used to do weekly nursing home visits with my little Zulu dog, and with a big ole Orange Tom cat I had. I organized a couple friends with good dogs to do this with me. The cat was the only cat I've ever had that would walk through a new place on leash without wanting to panic and hide under something. I used to be able to just plop him on someone's lap and there he'd stay.
I went to about four different facilities in Gig Harbor. Some would have me go room to room and look in to see if folk wanted to have a pet visit, and some facilities would bring the interested people down to a common room and we'd just let the dogs mingle the room.
And it wasn't complicated... they didn't require that my pets be certified as therapy pets or anything... Those places were happy to have the volunteer entertainment. Some watched me closely till the pets had earned trust and some took my word for it and let me go. So if you do have good judgment about whether your dog is well suited, it's really not hard to go do this, just call them and ask.