CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Paws-Ability aims to help local veterans, first responders

The Evening News and The Tribune - 2/7/2023

Feb. 7—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Three-year-old Chocolate Labrador Rose is changing the life of a Southern Indiana veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Regional nonprofit Paws-Ability, Inc. said there's more help where Rose came from and is asking people in Southern Indiana and surrounding areas to volunteer and refer public servants to its program.

"Paws-Ability is a non-profit...the mission of the organization is to raise and train quality service dogs for veterans and first responders, including police, fire, 911 operators and even our corrections officers," said Michaela Menefee with Paws-Ability. "We know that these people can go through traumatic experiences or be faced with PTSD, mobility issues and brain injuries. So we work to support them with dogs that can help them cope better with any of these disabilities they may have."

Menefee said the non-profit formed in 2020 and since then it has placed 11 dogs with first responders and veterans who needed them. The organization was founded by John Wells who is part of the Kentucky operation.

She said the dogs are trained to be service animals and Paws-Ability now has five dogs available. To qualify people must live in either Indiana or Kentucky and they have to go through an application process.

"They will need to have a signed doctor's note expressing they do have a qualified disability, they have to be willing to travel to and from trainers, put in the work to get the dog trained. We have (trainers) in Louisville, Brownstown, Indianapolis and Terre Haute."

The program is no cost to the person being helped.

"On average it takes about $5000 to raise a dog from start to finish so we always make sure we go through spay and neuter, the dogs are vaccinated, cared for," Menefee said. "When they receive their dogs they'll take over the expense of owning a dog."

There are also a number of volunteer opportunities available with the organization. Menefee said they could use help from people who can set up booths at events to help communicate the message about the dogs, along with people who can help with administrative things like managing paperwork and making calls about the program.

She said the program is changing the lives of people who get the service dogs.

"There's a lot of people who may be eligible to get a service dog, a lot of people have a military mindset, (thinking), 'Someone out there needs the dog more than me,'" she said, adding, "that's just not true."

That's exactly how veteran and Clark County resident Dwayne Draggoo felt before he was paired with Rose. Draggoo has PTSD and was just volunteering with the program initially, alongside his wife Jennifer.

"I had a hard time even admitting I have a problem, I didn't even know that I realized that I had an issue because a lot of people, they don't even realize they have an issue," Draggoo said. "My un-normal became normal with me."

He said he was first asked to watch Rose over a weekend while a foster family was going on vacation.

"We went to a picnic and Rose picked me out, came up and sat on my feet, just sat on my feet," Draggoo said. "She was 13 months old and looked at me with the big puppy dog eyes...And she came home with us, I had to go through the same process, fill out an application and do the interview and everything."

Rose is trained to help Draggoo with PTSD nightmares, stability and mobility.

"(She helps) mostly with nightmares and to calm myself and to go out in public," he said. "With PTSD I wouldn't go out in public, or if I would go out in public to Lowes or Home Depot, I'd only go at 6:30 a.m. Or 7 a.m. and I would look in an aisle and someone was down the aisle I would choose to not go down the aisle, had to be someone I knew."

He said Rosie is helping him with that.

"With her, I'm still not completely comfortable going out in public ... it's a lot better," he said. "I can go out and do stuff more when I want to and not have to get more comfortable, she's helped me get re-introduced to the public in a positive manner."

He encourages anyone who thinks they'd benefit from a service dog to reach out to Paws-Ability. He also said family members of first responders and veterans should also consider telling loved ones about the program.

"It takes more strength to admit weakness than it does to not," he said. "It's a huge, huge weight lifted off your shoulders, it's like two tons lifted off my shoulders."

Contact Paws-Ability Inc. at https://pawsability.org/contact-us/ for more information or email founder John Wells at jwell5224@aol.com.

___

(c)2023 The Evening News and The Tribune (Jeffersonville, Ind.)

Visit The Evening News and The Tribune (Jeffersonville, Ind.) at newsandtribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.