A Florida county paramedic group is teaming up to bring therapy dogs to first responders, reported WINK News.
Being on the front lines of a medical emergency is a high-stress, high-risk job. For paramedics and other first responders, dealing with work-related stress is a daily trial. But, dogs can help. Recently, different organizations have found that therapy dogs can make a huge impact on people with difficult jobs. Military personnel are among those who can benefit.
Therapy dogs are a lifeline for first responders, especially paramedics
When Collier County EMS wanted to help their paramedics deal with stress, they decided to reach out for help. Located along Florida’s southwest coast, the company contacted Golden PAWS Assistance Dogs, Inc. The group trains assistance and service dogs to help veterans, first responders, and children with disabilities.
Significantly, this spur-of-the-moment availability made Golden PAWS the perfect fit for Collier County’s paramedic team. According to deputy chief Noemi Garcia, “One of our paramedics started researching therapy dogs for himself and also saw a need…to have therapy dogs for Collier County EMS”.
In agreement, Collier EMS Chief Tabatha Butcher said, “First responders see a lot of difficult situations, and their level of stress is very high”. As a result, everyone was glad to hear that Golden PAWS would be sending two Golden Retrievers, Zelda, and Leo, to help ease some of that stress. Amazingly, Collier EMS is the first paramedic group in Florida to have such a partnership.
“Any time we have an incident where a first responder just needs to have counseling, have some stress relief, then we will take the dogs out to visit them at the stations,” Butcher said. On top of that, she also said, “…it’s really cute because now the ring around the agency is that, you know, ‘I need some Zelda time,’ or, ‘I need some Leo time,’ so they’ve really embraced it”.
These dogs want nothing more than to help
Both Butcher and Garcia see how excited the dogs are to be there. As soon as Zelda or Leo put on their vests, they said, they know it’s time to work. Eventually, Butcher said they’d like to have a therapy dog that could accompany them full-time. However, that plan is still in the works. In the meantime, Garcia said that the dogs are happy to be there no matter what.
“Whenever Zelda gets in my car to come to work, she’s a little bit happy,” Garcia said. “But as soon as I’m coming through the gate…She wants to put on her vest and come to the office and get petted and just provide that service to our office personnel to our paramedics, and even to the 911 dispatchers.”
