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PAWS to the rescue

By Quinn Fisher

 AHS EMS PAWS – Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services Psychological Awareness and Wellness Support

It is often said that a dog is man’s best friend. Since the first dog was domesticated 10,000 years ago in Central Asia in what is now called Nepal and Mongolia,  Dogs are known for their unwavering loyalty to who they perceive as their alpha. Their intelligence, combined with their keen sense of smell, provides unique capabilities that humans physiologically don’t possess. In modern times, dogs are commonly employed by police and military forces as search and rescue dogs. In 1976, Elaine Smith founded Therapy Dogs International, the first registry for a therapy dog in the United States. A year later, Pet Partners was formed to study the effects animals have on people’s lives.

Erica Olson is an EMS Paramedic with unique training to do staff support, (even heroes need a listening ear sometimes), who works with an accredited facility dog. named Delray, a five-year-old Black Lab accredited facility therapy dog. “We provide trauma-informed canine-facilitated peer support to ensure the psychological wellbeing of our staff,” Olson said in a written statement.  She further shared, “ First response work means you are present for someone else’s emergency a lot, and working in that unpredictable and sometimes tense environment can take a toll.”

Erica explained her role by stating, “As a peer support resource, I am there to listen, to validate what staff share, and to connect staff to resources to support them further. Delray is there to be himself: a non-judgmental, joyful and loving presence. Depending on the situation, he is either on or off-leash, and he is free to engage with staff or to rest. The human-animal bond has an impact just from being in the proximity of each other.  After a session, staff often say they had no idea what it was going to be like, but they found it helpful on their journey.”

“When we stop by a station or hospital bay to visit casually, we hear we were ‘the highlight of the shift’ and ‘that made my day’ a lot. When we are at a group event, like a post-incident gathering, staff say it made it easier to be in the room for a difficult conversation. Often staff express an interest in spending more time with their animals as well. Staff access us by contacting a member of the peer support team or going through their supervisor. We encourage staff to email us directly if they want to know more emspaws@ahs.ca.”

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