E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Michelle Rossitch
Army veteran Luis Zaragoza, 28, with his service dog Cheyenne. Zaragoza did two tours of duty in Iraq, and suffers PTSD.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will cover the costs of service dogs to help veterans with impaired vision, hearing or mobility, but will not cover canines assigned for mental disabilities, according to regulations published on Wednesday in the Federal Register.
The VA said that despite many individual veterans’ testimonials that mental health service dogs provide relief from the symptoms of combat-related disabilities such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it lacked research substantiating the efficacy of mental health service dogs.
"VA has not yet been able to determine that these dogs provide a medical benefit to veterans with mental illness," the department said. "Until such a determination can be made, VA cannot justify providing benefits for mental health service dogs."
To be defined as a "service dog" the animal has to be trained to do specific tasks for a person — such as picking things up, guiding them or providing balance.
Trainers say that for veterans suffering mental disabilities such as PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), dogs can be trained to help avert panic attacks and wake them up as they enter a nightmare. The animals can be taught to remind veterans to take medications and alert them if they have left a burner lit on the stove.
Luis Zaragoza, 28, who suffers PTSD from his service in the Iraq war, says he's experienced more progress in a month with his service dog, Cheyenne, than in all the years visiting the VA since his discharge in 2004.
"For eight years I was just in limbo, but now I’m seeing glimpses of the old me — the me I was before I joined the military," he said of the service-dog program.
The program, designed by Illinois-based nonprofit This Able Veteran, paired Zaragoza with the dog and a therapist. The dog is there to help the veteran re-enter mainstream life at intervals recommended and monitored by the therapist.
In Zaragoza's case, the dog is trained to detect a tic — Zaragoza’s leg begins to shake — at the onset of a panic attack, and divert the veteran’s attention by bumping his leg. Cheyenne will do this a second time — more insistently — if Zaragoza fails to respond the first time. This happens up to five times a day, said Zaragoza, who lost nine soldiers in his company during two bruising stints in Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq.
The veteran says he is regaining his ability to get out of the house and do things — like go to the shopping mall — that he has avoided because of the anxiety and hyper vigilance that is common to combat-related PTSD. Zaragoza says he sleeps more, functions better in the day, and interacts with more with other people rather than choosing to isolate himself. He’s lost 15 pounds because he is more active.
That was progress he had not seen despite years of visiting VA psychiatrists and doctors who prescribed medications for his PTSD symptoms.
"At the VA, what they tend to do is pump you with medicine," he said. "That’s not a solution to any issue like PTSD or anxiety. They just kind of numb you. I knew that wasn’t the right choice for me. I was looking for an alternative."
But Zaragoza’s opportunity remains relatively rare and unaffordable for many veterans.
The cost of providing custom-trained Cheyenne was about $20,000 said Behesha Doan, president of This Able Veteran. The costs — for training, as well as Zaragoza’s travel expenses, veterinary bills, and equipment — were funded by private donations. Zaragoza was one of six veterans assigned a PTSD dogs by the nonprofit.
But he is disappointed that the VA won’t pick up the bill so that more veterans can get this kind of assistance.
As an employee of U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Chicago, he is able to handle the cost of maintaining Cheyenne — things like food, kennels for work, home and cars, and vet bills. Even these costs would challenge many fellow combat veterans, he said.
"There are other veterans who can’t go to school or hold a job because their PTSD is so bad," said Zaragoza. "A lot of these guys live on $600 a month."
Stories like Zaragoza’s prompted members of Congress to push for the VA to provide more canine assistance to veterans, and recommended more research to explore how dogs might best help veterans suffering two of the most common mental disabilities from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan — PTSD and TBI.
As NBC News' Rebecca Ruiz reported in August, a team of epidemiologists, mental health providers, veterinarians and other experts were conducting a study at the Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Fla. Proponents were eager for the three-year study to deliver data to demonstrate benefits and help create a framework for training mental disability service dogs.
But the research was temporarily suspended from January to June after a young girl was bitten by a dog. VA declined to be interviewed about the study, but told Ruiz that the project resumed after it increased monitoring through phone calls and home visits by the researchers and service dog providers.
Training PTSD dogs is tricky because the illness ranges from very manageable to very severe, according to Corey Hudson, President of the North American chapter of Assistance Dogs International, a coalition of not for profit organizations that train and place canines worldwide. "You have to be careful what you’re getting into, and make sure you are qualified to train a dog for that situation," he said.
He said that his understanding was that the VA wanted the results from the PTSD service dog research to show what was effective before making a decision on benefits.
Doan, of This Able Veteran, said continued research, properly done, could help the VA set standards, and weed out service dog providers which have proliferated in the last few years. She stresses that pairing dogs and veterans without careful screening and training poses risks to both, and could just be a waste of resources.
"In order for this to be taken seriously, we’ve got to show that we have considered all the aspects of what could potentially go wrong and maintain all the efficacy of what goes right," she said.
She is hoping that the VA, in its decision not to cover PTSD dogs is merely taking a cautious, go-slow approach, not ruling out benefits for the future or merely dragging its feet.
"If it’s done right we’ve got a helluva program going on," she said. "If it’s not, you’ve got Joe Bag-a-donuts out there grabbing some dog off the street and calling it a PTSD dog."
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Judge rules Fort Hood shooting suspect must be 'forcibly shaved'
- Drew Peterson trial jurors during deliberations: 'What does unanimous mean?'
- Hurricane Michael becomes year's first Category 3 storm; Leslie eyes Bermuda
- 4 dead after school bus collides with semi-truck in Nebraska
- Video: Guilty pleas entered in Ohio bridge bomb plot
Leave a Comment:
so now thge question is: will they cover the treatment of dogs suffering from PTSD?
as george w. bush, the commander-in-cjhief is responsible for the misery of vets with PTSD, i believe that he should be held liable for these costs.
we keep on postingthesediscussions, but only 1 in 10,000 reads these and the discussions are pure waste of timeand energy
Real great way to support our troops--ask Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) about her plan to cut support for the troops.
I think it is wonderful that a private organization provides training for these dogs and we should support it.
That being said, $20K for training is quite a bit. I can understand the need for PTSD veterans, but would a dog for company without such training be as helpful to a mentally disabled veteran?
As soon as people hear something works they want it. Not once did they consider the costs. Do you know how broad mental health categories are? They could end up providing dogs for thousands of people. That's cost prohibitive!!! Those dogs are exorbitantly expensive. One lady who raises them was telling one dog for a vision impaired person is thousands of $$$$.
There needs to be another way to help troops suffering from mental illnesses. How about art or music therapy? It's time to bring the VA to the troops (in local communities) and stop trying to get them to major facilities located far away from their homes.
Here's my non-scientific, but general common-sense, observation. Aside from the intervention techniques that the article describes the dog doing, taking care of an animal and enjoying the companionship it provides can help many people fight against depression. Depression is a frequent side-effect of PTSD. Minimize the side-effects and the negative ways that PTSD affects the victim's life, and you will help them lead a more normal life. Having a more normal, stable life will help them better confront and deal with their PTSD. This is a great program. I hope someone does a study and generates the statistics so the VA can accept it as an effective treatment and support this program (The VA is a government agency so of course to them if you can't quantify something, it doesn't exist). Initial training, then dog food and shots for 10-15 years must surely be more cost-effective than a lifetime of counseling and prescription meds.
My son served two tours in Afghanistan. He suffers from PTSD. And for those who say that PTSD is not real, you need to be sent to a war zone and live thru what our military men and women go thru! My son has a dog, Wolfie (not a service dog). I KNOW that Wolfie has helped my son. I have seen the calming effect Wolfie has on my son. I feel that the VA should fund for service dogs.
There is a difference legally between Service Animals PTSD/Therapy Dogs and pets. However, I believe all three are invaluable. The problem is that the Americans With Disabilities Act was changed in 2008 to exclude mental disabilities. Contact your lawmakers NOW. Know who is on your ballot and how each candidate has walked the walk, not just talked the talk. I read this and immediately contacted one. Even some staff members were unaware of the difference, citing a Service Animal bill. Yes, Service Animals have a major back-log and we need that sped up for all, including Sm and veterans. However, PTSD/TD dogs are also valuable and to pi** away so much money on the war and then abandon our service members when they need us the most is despicable. I know lots of waysa we can pay for this, such as collecting on the fines levied against puppy mills and the pet stores (LOTS of fines assessed), enforcing the laws we have, etc. We changed the plan of the non-profit (the people on the Board are all reliant on their pets-several suffered disability discr directly and indirectly) to include covering uncovered costs for SM and their families for all three "categories"-SA, PTSD/TD and pets. Luckily, I waited until the bar assn seminar on how to set up a NP properly and this info came in. originally, the NP was supposed to focus on education and legislative changes needed. We HAD to add provision of things such as veterinary care, trainining, help picking out a rescue, food, medicine and other supplies, boarding when needed, etc. for all SM/Vets and their families for all three categoeis-SA, PTSD/TD dogs and pets. WE KNOW ALL OF THEM HELP-D/K WHERE THE HECK THE VA WAS LOOKING FOR "PROOF".
It is significant that the VA is only funding service dogs for vets with visible disabilities. If the DOJ would do its job and mandate a training, certification and registration protocol protecting the public and the handlers from fake service dogs, or ill trained service dogs with unknown temperaments, then military personnel would not have been involved with the first known fatal attack by a so called service dog early this year.
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16645526/dog-trainers-say-even-medical-service-dogs-can-attack
The handler was a veteran who had the "service dog" to alleviate PTSD. There is zero chance that this dog was bred for being a service dog and little chance that it was adequately trained and vetted up to IAADP and ADI standards or that the handler was adequately trained to handle his service dog.
In all probability, the military is at least in part responding to this unheard of, horribly senseless, gruesome death of an innocent 6 year old.