[nagdu] Visually impaired cafeteria manager relies on service dog to help in travels

[Ginger Kutsch]

Visually impaired cafeteria manager relies on service dog to help in travels


CJOnline.com

http://cjonline.com/news/2013-10-13/visually-impaired-cafeteria-manager-reli
es-service-dog-help-travels

 

Bill Dain's 5-year-old golden retriever is more than a service dog to the
visually impaired Overbrook man - Kirkcaldy is Dain's lifeline.

 

Dain has managed the cafeteria in the Landon State Office Building, 900 S.W.
Jackson, for nearly nine years. He also manages cafeterias in the Docking
State Office Building, 901 S.W. Harrison, and the Westar building, 818 S.
Kansas Ave.

 

Kirkcaldy helps Dain travel back and forth between the buildings. Their day
begins at 4:30 a.m., when Dain is dropped off at the Landon building to
begin food preparation. At 6:30 a.m., Dain walks to Westar to check on his
employees there, and by 8 a.m., he makes his way to the Docking building to
oversee work there.

 

Kirkcaldy, who came to Dain through KSDS Inc. in Washington, began working
with Dain about three years ago. Before that, Dain had a black Labrador
named Bronco that served as his assistance dog for 10 years.

 

For the past five weeks, Kirkcaldy hasn't been by Dain's side for the walks.
Instead, Dain has to rely on a white cane he has nicknamed Homer.

 

Kirkcaldy recently tore his anterior cruciate ligament and had to go to
Overland Park to have surgery. The surgery to have Caldy's ACL repaired cost
$3,200, an expense Dain has to cover. Caldy won't be able to serve Dain for
at least another five weeks. He is staying with Dain's family while he
recuperates.

 

"For me, Kirkcaldy is my life," Dain said. "He is so important. He gives me
my independence back. He can take me anywhere I want to go. He is everything
to me. He is my lifeline."

 

While Caldy works as Dain's service dog, he also is much more to the Dain
family.

 

"He is a big part of my family," Dain said. "He's my little man on four
paws."

 

Vicky Gorrell, who retired from the state in September, said Dain "is a
positive thinking man, always ready with a joke or fun comment."

 

Gorrell said the cost for Caldy's surgery was "high considering Mr. Dain is
like many of us who have felt the economic downturn recently."

 

"While coworkers and other caring employees of the state have had bake sales
and made donations, only one-third of the surgical costs have been covered,"
Gorrell wrote in a letter to The Topeka Capital-Journal. "I believe that the
Topeka community should and would rally to help Mr. Dain and his family in
this circumstance."

 

An account has been established at CoreFirst Bank and Trust under the name
"Kirkcaldy's Medical Fund."

 

Dain, who was born in Topeka and was raised here until he was 14, became
visually impaired in 1990 because of eye disease, he said. Dain served in
the United States Army from 1968-70 and then became a millwright and worked
at Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant.

 

He found out he was losing his sight when he didn't pass an eye exam in
South Carolina, where he had traveled to for a construction project.

 

"I went through a depression time," Dain said.

 

Six years after learning he was losing his sight, Dain's son was killed in a
motorcycle crash. In 2003, his Topeka home was destroyed in a fire.

 

"I'm a strong Christian, so I know God pulled me through it," he said.

 

Earlier this week, Dain was enjoying a southwest chicken salad with some of
this employees before the lunch rush started at the Landon cafeteria.

 

Dain smiled as he explained how he prepares the food, having worked so long
in the kitchen he knows his way around it.

 

Shirley Schroth, assistant manager for the Landon cafeteria, has worked with
Dain for more than five years. She is one of the few people Dain trusts to
handle Caldy because Schroth used to help train KSDS dogs.

 

"He's probably one of the best bosses I've ever had," she said.

 

As Dain prepared to leave the cafeteria to check on his other workers, he
grabbed his white cane.

 

"I prefer Caldy over the stick any day," Dain said. "I prefer to have my
guide dog. I miss him."

 

Ann Marie Bush can be reached at (785) 295-1207 or ann.bush at cjonline.com.

Follow Ann Marie on Twitter @AnnieScribe.