By Anna Blackford/American Red Cross
Did you know that the American Red Cross works with therapy dogs? Deanna Tuley, lead volunteer for the Animal Assistance team, was able to shed some light on this Services to the Armed Forces initiative. Deanna volunteers at the Evans Army Community Hospital in Fort Carson, Colorado, and is the lead volunteer for the Animal Assistance Team.
When I first started interviewing Deanna, the biggest question that I had was what the difference is between a service dog program and a therapy dog program. “Service dog programs are the ones that are designed to train dogs to provide service to one particular individual,” she told me. “Therapy animals are trained to work in conjunction with their human handler to provide animal assisted therapy or animal assisted interventions.” Essentially, service dogs help one person, while therapy dogs are handled by one person, but provide therapy to many people.
Therapy dog programs have amazing effects on veterans, staff, volunteers, and other patients. When asked what the best part of the program is in her opinion, Deanna said that it is
“the positive effect it has on everyone who comes into contact with our animals. Hospital staff members look forward to our visits, children forget their maladies for a few minutes while petting the animals, other patients relax and get comfort from touching our animals. I once visited with a soldier who [had] been through multiple surgeries and who started crying when she was petting one of my goldens. Her doctor came in and asked why she was crying. She said she was so happy to be able to pet my dog.”
And the most important part of the program? The dogs. Throughout the interview, Deanna praised her “fur babies,” for their compassion, hard work, and unimaginable healing abilities. She says that she continues “to be amazed at the intuition of our animals and the unconditional love they show to those with whom they come in contact.” We all know that volunteers drive the services of the Red Cross, but Deanna has showed us that the term ‘volunteers’ is not restricted to people. With the help of their furry friends, the Animal Assistance Team is able to “provide service to the Armed Forces in ways that
They could not anticipate or imagine. Those who serve out country and their families can find comfort with [the] animals and in turn know that they are loved and appreciated for their sacrifices. The love they get from the animals touches their hearts.”
In the future, Deanna would love to get more animal teams involved at Evans, and in other hospitals. Continued interest and investments in the program keep it running and allow the dogs and their handlers to truly make a difference!