[nagdu] Dog Therapy and Paws that Heal

Tamara Smith-Kinney tamara.8024 at comcast.net
Sat Feb 14 18:54:45 UTC 2009 

Linda,

Will do!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 3:22 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Dog Therapy and Paws that Heal

Tami and Haben,
That sounds like something good to do at the VA in Portland.  Check with 
them to see if they already have a pet-assisted therapy visitation program 
that you could join up with.  I do this with our Humane Society and Landon 
loves doing it - and the people enjoy Landon!

Our Naval Medical Center of San Diego also has a regular pet visitation 
program.  The Paws That Heal program does more than the other program does. 
Our two programs compliment each other.

Good luck and let us know what you find in Portland.

Cheers,

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Dog Therapy and Paws that Heal


>
> I found a cool program called Pups on Parole. A dog rescue facility called

> Heaven Can Wait gets many dogs that have been abused and are not quite 
> ready to be adopted. Then these dogs are placed in the program Pups on 
> Parole and given to certain women in a prison center in Navada where the 
> inmates socialize the dogs. Simultaneously the experience is beneficial to

> the inmates. So it's not quite like Linda's program, and not exactly 
> centered in Portland, but it was all I could find right now.
>
> Are there any more people from Portland? I would love to interview dog 
> guide users and write a paper for class on the topic. Would you be 
> interested Tamara? I'm attending Lewis & Clark College and moved up here 
> from California for school.
>
> best,
> Haben
>
> Tamara Smith-Kinney wrote:
>> Haben,
>>
>> Welcome, fellow Portlander!  Are you a native, or are you only here for
>> school?
>>
>> We do have a number of programs around here, as well as a VA hospital 
>> with
>> some satellite facilities.  And that's the limit of my information on the
>> subject.  Checking it all out is on my to-do list, but my greater 
>> priorities
>> are going to take another couple of months (or more) to get checked off. 
>> My
>> roomie is a vet, and he wants to be involved there too and knows many of 
>> the
>> people, so my first inquiries will be into whether there is a program
>> similar to Linda's there.  If not, I'm vaguely considering getting 
>> something
>> like that rolling.  We'll see.
>>
>> Meanwhile, I would love to hear what you find out!
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Haben Girma
>> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 7:03 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] Dog Therapy and Paws that Heal
>>
>> Linda, I am absolutely intrigued! That is such a lovely program! I really

>> hope I can find something like that in the Portland, Oregon area. I am a 
>> college student currently taking an anthropology class that requires 
>> students to go out and do fieldwork. I am considering doing something 
>> with Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boring, Oregon. Right now I'm going to 
>> search the Internet for a dog therapy program in Portland. Thanks for 
>> sharing LInda!
>>
>> Haben
>>
>> lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Haben,
>>> There is no web page for Paws That Heal.  We are a 3 year old program 
>>> that is run out of the Health & Wellness Department for the Naval 
>>> Medical Center of San Diego.  The program manager is their Diabetes 
>>> Instructor. She is visually impaired with a guide dog and she started 
>>> the program after an encounter in the elevator with a Wounded Warrior in

>>> her building.  The servicemember had a profound stutter and it took him 
>>> five minutes to stutter out, "May I pet your dog?"  My friend - the 
>>> instructor - allowed him to pet her dog and the stutter went away just 
>>> like that!  He then shared his war experiences with her - the 
>>> servicemember was wounded in Iraq.
>>>
>>> Anyway, the Diabetes instructor happens to have been a friend of mine 
>>> for years.  She also knows several of the other guide dog users in the 
>>> San Diego area who already had a program with the local blind center 
>>> where we bring our dogs to an outdoor, fenced in dog park to allow the 
>>> guide dogs play time together.  We had exclusive use of one of the 
>>> fenced in areas for two hours once a month.  The friend of mine worked 
>>> with us and her chain of command at the hospital and permission was 
>>> granted to bring several wounded servicemembers to the park to play with

>>> our dogs - and Paws That Heal was born.  We also have a portion of the 
>>> program where we go to the locked mental health ward to work with the 
>>> servicemembers with PTSD and depression. More great stuff happened as 
>>> well.
>>>
>>> I do have a flyer for the program but it is in a PDF file and turned 
>>> sideways - don't know if a screen reader can desipher it!
>>>
>>> The program manager has written to Marion Gwizdala and he in turn had 
>>> her contact Mike Hingson about the program. We are looking for some new 
>>> teams to work with us who live in the San Diego area.  The Paws program 
>>> happens three times a month at the hospital so we need people who can 
>>> get there, can commit the time, and pass the interviewing process - both

>>> human and dog.
>>>
>>> I forgot, where do you live?
>>>
>>> HTH
>>>
>>> Linda and Landon
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 1:13 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Welcome Haben
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Linda, those volunteer programs sound awesome! Would you send me the 
>>>> web address for Paws that Heal? I'd love to read more about it.
>>>>
>>>> thanks,
>>>> Haben
>>>>
>>>> lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Welcome to the list, Haben.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm Linda and I live in San Diego - soon to move to Vermont.  Landon 
>>>>> is my 3 year old red Lab/Golden cross from The Seeing Eye.  I got him 
>>>>> in the October 2007 class. I am 58 years young and have not had a paid

>>>>> job in eons. I've done lots of volunteer jobs to get experience to put

>>>>> on a resume!  Right now, Landon and I work at two pet therapy 
>>>>> programs.  One for the Humane Society where we visit various 
>>>>> facilities for disabled kids and adults. Landon is certified by the 
>>>>> AKC's Canine Good Citizenship Test.  Landon is their program's first 
>>>>> actual working assistance dog they've had.  Lots of guide dog and 
>>>>> service dog pups, but we are their first working team to be in the 
>>>>> program.  The other one is a program called Paws That Heal that is at 
>>>>> the Naval Medical Center of SD.  Both Landon and I had to pass a 
>>>>> series of interviews for this.  We do a combo pet therapy, 
>>>>> socialization, and reintegration work with our Wounded Warriors from 
>>>>> Iraq and Afghanistan.  We work mainly with the patients on the mental 
>>>>> health ward.
>>>>>
>>>>> Haben, you'll enjoy this list - it's alot of fun.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Linda and Landon
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Haben Girma" <habnkid at aol.com>
>>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 9:27 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Welcome Haben
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Mardi, thanks for the explanations. I love the names of your dogs.

>>>>>> I actually don't have a dog, I'm in the application process for a 
>>>>>> Seeing Eye dog right now. So, I'm patiently waiting to learn my fate.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>> Haben
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mardi Hadfield wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  Hi every one,     Welcome Haben.   No, I don't live in Alaska.  My 
>>>>>>> Huskies
>>>>>>> are "south paws"  We live in Tucson, Arizona.  When I first needed a

>>>>>>> guide
>>>>>>> dog, I was told that the schools did not train for wheelchair 
>>>>>>> users.Since I
>>>>>>> already had a service dog, who was a husky, I hired a trainer to 
>>>>>>> help me
>>>>>>> train Lily  to guide me. I had to retire her at age 8 as she had 
>>>>>>> health
>>>>>>> issues and she died month later, leaving me with out a guide dog.  I

>>>>>>> tried
>>>>>>> out a border collie and he did not work out as he had been abused 
>>>>>>> before I
>>>>>>> got him and he could not handle being out in public. Then I got 
>>>>>>> another
>>>>>>> husky, Nala,who was a fantastic guide. She will soon be 10 years old

>>>>>>> and has
>>>>>>> health issues now.She has guided me for 8 years and it has been hard

>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> retire her as she does not want to retire. When she sees me getting 
>>>>>>> ready to
>>>>>>> go out, she brings me her harness and get all excited. She started 
>>>>>>> picking
>>>>>>> fights with Wanagi, the dog that I was training to take over for 
>>>>>>> Nala. She
>>>>>>> is a lot happier now that she is working again part time. Wanagi 
>>>>>>> came up
>>>>>>> lame with a hip problem, so she was  career changed. I am keeping 
>>>>>>> her as a
>>>>>>> pet. I have been looking for a dog to take over as my new guide for 
>>>>>>> over 10
>>>>>>> months. I think I have finally found a dog.I would love to get a dog

>>>>>>> from
>>>>>>> Fidelco,but when I asked about it ,I was told that they don't train 
>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>> wheelchair users.I would have to pay my way to and from South 
>>>>>>> Eastern Guide
>>>>>>> Dogs, which I could not afford, and really can't be away that long. 
>>>>>>> Guide
>>>>>>> Dogs for the Blind would take me ,but again, I can't be away  from 
>>>>>>> my home
>>>>>>> and business that long. So I guess I will just continue to train my 
>>>>>>> own
>>>>>>> guides with the help of my trainer.  Haben, do you have a guide dog?

>>>>>>> If so ,
>>>>>>> what breed is it? I love hearing from others and about their dogs. 
>>>>>>> Have a
>>>>>>> great day,  Mardi and Nala,semi-retired, and Shaman , possible 
>>>>>>> trainee.
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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