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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."
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Leave a Comment:
We should be doing everything possible for our Vets! That includes service dogs as needed. Doctors should be making these kinds of decisions, not bean counters.
Proud to be a daughter, sister & step-mom of Vets.
I bought and paid for the dog we have.... I have had family members ask if my husband's problems could not have been caused by something other than the Tet time frame... and all the loverly showers from planes with US markings on them... the man/kid/soldier next to you, literally exploding all over you... local kids in camp one day, and gutted.... tied to a tree the next... scrimp, save, and buy the dog.... you won't be sorry....
It's sad to read this, and to know Romney takes an $83,000.00 tax deduction on a show horse for her illness. A show horse is not ridden by someone with disability's for fear of injuring the horse, and or rider (too spirited). It's nice to be the 1%!!!!
I am a Nam vet with PTSD. I do have a service dog for my PTSD that was prescribed by my VA doctor. I put him though training with me. It was a long process, but thanks to him, I was able to go off medication. He wakes in my sleep when he senses me having a nightmare. He senses when I start getting uptight, tense, or angry before it becomes a problem by distracting me and wanting my attention. I respond to him and I go to a relaxed state.
There are agencies providing training and dogs for PTSD vets here in Northern California. I am a total supporter of the program and a donor to Bergin Canine University in Rohnert Park, CA
Thank you for your service, your story, your compassion, and your sense!
I was wondering why a mentally disabled person can get their therapy dogs paid for and cared for by the mental health association and the gov won't help the vets out. Some guy was riding a city bus and told the story.
For what our armed forces personnel are subjected to, the last thing they should have to worry about when they get home is whether they are eligible to receive care (if they need it). It should be a no-brainer! They put their lives on the line, and the VA won't do whatever it takes to aid them? Doesn't instill much faith in me with regards to our government (but then again with the current administration, there isn't much they do that instills faith in me). Animals have proven they can be so incredibly effective in the treatment of many heath issues, and PTSD dog or not, our nation's veterans deserve better than what they're getting.
Ignorance is a terrible affliction also, as evidenced by "some" comments. Historically, science has known that animals calm an individual as well as their blood pressure and other medical issues. The VA has been notorious for being USELESS. Decades ago, while dealing with my brother in law regarding a head injury, I did battle with the VA on numerous occasions. Only once they understood that I would NOT go away did I get results. Unfortunately, he passed as they were so incompetent they couldn't figure out how to change sheets or prescribe medicine.
Makes one wonder why anyone would enter the military anymore???? Ahhh, the promises "we" made.
Isn't it long past time for the VA to admit it really doesn't give a flying f*ck about our veterans...? That its administrators are ONLY interested in bureaucratic empire building, no matter how much they have to screw our vets to do so?
If they really cared about the people they're supposed to be caring for - the people they're being paid to care for - they'd grasp at ANY straw that offered ANY hope of helping America's veterans. These people acquired their PTSD in the service of our nation, and our nation OWES them all the help we can give them!
Let me get this straight.You fight for the country Get shot up or worse.Come back a basket case and can't deal
with anything but, the goverment won't buy you a dog ? I say screw them. Let washington get themselfs out of this mess and leave all these young people out of it.
Most soldiers don't go anywhere near a dangerous situation? How many tours did you do? My youngest son did 2 tours in Iraq, he didn't have to do it to get his education, that was already paid for. He did it for a reason I'm sure you wouldn't understand... It's called patriotism. If you don't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them! The Affordable Care Act alloted 6 BILLION dollars for 2012 to set up demonstration models and studies on how the bill would affect our healthcare system.(Read H.R.3509) Yet we can't set up grants for training of service dogs for our servicemen? Anyone who thinks this is BS should look into what has been done with service dogs. There are service dogs who are 98% accurate in detecting cancer and seizures. Why not provide one less grant to an organization to study the effects of the healthcare reform act, and do the right thing by the people who put our rights and freedom before their personal safety?
Instead of posting on here and screaming at each other, we should be writing to the VA , our elected officials and both Presidential candidates. If the VA can't afford the dogs, we can send the bill to all those who cheered the war's start, but never served themselves. We should never send our finest into battle unless we are all willing to sacrifice at home for what they've sacrificed abroad. Pay up, everyone, who lives, works, profits and enjoys the freedom these brave vets give us.
My nephew just got back from Afghanistan. He jumps if he hears a loud noise, had nightmares, has to have the house really cool, and on and on. He and his wife paid for a dog to help him. What a difference!! He will have problems his whole life after seeing the horrible things that he had to deal with like seeing his best friend's head being blown off in front of him. Our government spends trillions of dollars on this horrible war, but they won't help our vets. Disgusting.
I'm 100% total, permanent for PTSD. I have been this way for 24 years. The onset of my disorder began in 1970. I don't have a service dog. However I have had many german shepherds. This breed has proven to be very in tune to me and my ptsd behaviors. My first shepherd had my back at all times and was very loyal. He would have taken a bullet for me. He kept me from hurting others physically in a fit of rage. My current two shepherds know to come over and nudge me when I get angry and begin screaming and yelling. Like telling me to cool it because I am getting too out of control. Or to even wake me when I am having terrible nightmares. So even if the VA does not yet see benefit, I can say some breeds know instinctively to protect you from the PTSD beast.
Daniel, I'm glad to hear you've had such good luck with your dogs with no training. Some breeds just seem to need to have a higher purpose. We have a lab/shepard mix that is amazing! If anyone in the house is sick, she won't leave them. When my husband died in an accident 6 years ago, she woke me up howling at the door till I got the call that he'd been in an accident. Unfortunately, without training, most dogs are overwhelmed when faced with someone with PTSD.(Picture you at your worst with a young dog unfamiliar with it). I recently read thru the Affordable Care Act, and was amazed at the money taxpayers are paying for studies on obscure things, yet on something as important as this, there is nothing. ALL vets, no matter what conflict they served in should be offered proper care.
Way to show love to our troops...FAIL VA
To start, I would like to thank all our brave servicemen and women who have fought and died, so that we at home can enjoy our freedoms!!!!!!! You are our heros, and I pray for all of you every night.
These men and women deserve to have any and all the things that make life easier and safer for them when they return. Shame on anyone who would deny a servicemen what he needs to adjust to society after their tours.
We are our brothers keepers.
Of course not.....it works.
With what we expect of our men and women in uniform, the risks they take for us, if they want a dog, give them a damn dog. I don't care if it's a certified "service" dog or just a pet from the humane society. Is this really too flipping much to ask for ?? Really?? (oh, and if one of our vets would rather have a cat, give them a cat!!)
I think if some VA "decision makers" got off their lazy ass and did some real research at the VA, they would find that it is common knowledge that dogs, especially when placed with the elderly have a profoundly positive effect on their well being.
Is it such a wild jump to even consider that a properly trained service dog could positivley effect the lives of PTSD sufferers?
I don't think so. Although I consider myself to have an average or above, level of common sense, i am not a doctor.
But it doesn't take a Doctorate to know that the elderly are not benefiting from a brisk run through the friggin park with their dogs you morons!
It's the brain....you know? thats where PTSD starts/
For the Doc from Chicago: Thank you.....and I do mean a huge Thanks. You and ones like you are the ones we need in the VA but more oft than not the ones who have been in that system for some time usually don't listen to the ones who DO know a few things and as a result the good ones exit.
For MarilynMD: If you are in fact a doctor, then you need to re-examine your own schooling and either get over there and serve on the lines and THEN come back and talk to the ones who have. ItTs docs just like you who usually found their way out of the LZ in a bag.
For those of you who seem to feel that this PTSD item isn't real I submit to you the following question: Are you among those who point fingers AFTER the fact of a vets suicide or point fingers after some vet has gone over the edge and then ask the question of " why didn't anyone help that veteran?", well...? are you? because if you are then it's ones like you who have ZERO right to make any accusation without any firm base of evidence with which to say anything.
To the Veterans of ALL wars who made it back home,and who are wrestling with this demon: Keep at it....keep working on it....don't give up. Don't back off. Do NOT simply throw your hands up and walk away. That 600 @ month or less or more is maybe all you have, but I can assure you, theres ones out here who DO care andwho ARE willing to lend a hand UP and not a hand OUT.
I'm a veteran...I served. I'm still dealing with things that went on long ago and I haven't quit yet. Everyday I wake up is one more day I win and that gorilla looses ground. You can do this...please....don't stop believeing in yourselves or the ones who support and love you.
If I had the means, I'd walk right up to each and every one of you and bring you home again. But I can't. But what I can do is to let you know in the best way I know how, that we are in this together and the fights not over....so don't quit.EVER.
To the VA: You folks had better pull your heads out of your rears before you find your selves in so much deep fecal matter that you'll never see the light of day again. You're supposed ot be taking care of us....or did you all forget the preamble said by Lincoln that established the very thing that employs you?
JUMP UP!!!
HOOK UP!!!
git 'er done
Blue_Mule - Thank YOU for your service and your comment - well stated! As I always tell my sons - NEVER give up! I, too, wish I could personally thank everyone who has served in the military - give 'em a big hug. My oldest son is one of those living on $600/mo and would love to have a dog - which would help him immensely. But neither of us live in a place which allows dogs or have a yard. He moved into his first apt. two weeks ago - after being basically homeless for years. As his mom, I'd do anything to make his pain go away and live a 'normal' life.
This kind of crap really makes me go nuts. Our government can give illegal aliens financial benefits, they have the taxpayers here in California paying for their lunches, and their education, etc., but we can't take care of our veterans that have fought and lost their minds for our freedom.
I pray to God that our politicians that have voted against this sort of thing will have God to answer to.
I will pray that they have some travesty happens along in their lives, and I hope it's soon.
It is unbelievable what many of our politicians have done to our veterans.
God Bless our Soldiers and keep them Safe.
— — — — the politicians that have taken away from them. May they burn in Hell!
Why would the VA pay for dogs? Come on this is a stupid feel-bad story. Out country is underwater and we are reading about therapy dogs? Besides, most of the people claiming PTSD are milking the Military's desire to not look foolish in public. Everyone who has served knows PTSD is a joke in the majority of cases.
OK I am not rezally sure just how I feel about this 'ruling' On the right hand I completely understand the need for those with PTSD to have their dog labeled as a service animal. On the other hand I have heard of sympathetic animal loving doctors who have provided 'notes' for service animals for our vets ranging from hamsters to horses. The vet bills for these animals caan be enormous ( I once dumped $750 into a pet hamster that died just a year later, and yes I was devasted that this little guy died ), but that cost should never be put at the feet of the taxpayer. I see the need to provide relief for our war time heroes beyond what a pill, a shot, and oh " poor baby" can provide, but there MUST be a line drawn somewhere. We simply cannot afford to pay the bills of animal after animal for thousands of PTSD victims.
dave-3369963
Why would the VA pay for dogs? Come on this is a stupid feel-bad story. Out country is underwater and we are reading about therapy dogs? Besides, most of the people claiming PTSD are milking the Military's desire to not look foolish in public. Everyone who has served knows PTSD is a joke in the majority of cases.
PTSD is NO JOKE. I am so glad that you had a perfectly balanced childhood that left you with the capability to kill without conscious! I am equally thrilled that you have had a life that has spared you the heartbreak of a spouse leaving you, that you have never lost a young one or God forbid your child! These men and women NEED someone to talk to about their expeiences and their grief who will not judge them, or try to 'fix it'. Most of those that have seen or done the worst cannot bring themselves to think about it or talk about it to anyone, especially to a spouse. It is the very fact that they are humane that leaves them with this disorder. My husband used to wake up screaming waving his clenched fists in the air ( he served in Nam ). Trust me, someone who will not tell their secrets and will still be loved knowing those secrets is just what these heroes need. While I cannot condone the VA paying for the vet, I do understand the need. Petting an animal ( any animal ) has been proven to have calming effects on virtually everyone.
dave-3369963
you still need a few LIFE CHANGING HEARTBREAKS to even have a clue as to what these men and women go through. Please take a seat at the back of the bus.
Frances, We can't afford vet bills for our vets with real problems, but we can pay 15 million to study the sexual habits of teenagers? I can't ride in a car with my son because after 2 tours in Iraq, he unconsciously practices evasive maneuvers? If the VA will pay for hooking up servicemen in need of a service dog, I'll personally pay, or find other donors to pay vet bills on these much needed dogs. If we have 1million vets suffering from PTSD, and their annual vet bills were 1500 per year, that's 15 million per year. The actual # is MUCH less than 1 million, but I would much rather my tax dollars went to pay for service dogs for vets as opposed to studying teen sexual habits!
I hope someone with some clout will read this article and all the comments. We NEED to take care of the vets that come home from war. Some need more care than others whether it be for physical or mental health.
It's not right to use someone up and not try to fix them when they get back. There's someone in my family who was changed after a 14 month stint in the Sand box... Not bad enough to warrant a service dog, but certainly some counseling would help. But for the ones who really need the help, please, VA, give it to them.
You can't wait 20 years for a double blind study of 10,000 vets to see if its worth it.
It doesn't matter who the president will be in the future.. the war is the same and the vets are the same and the troubles are the same.
For all of those who have posted and have served our country, Thank you for your service. You are true patriots whether you were drafted in the 60's or volunteered your service.
Oooh Rah!
I think it's high time for providers to start listening to our Vets and actually address their needs. If a Vet needs a service dog to live a better life then it needs to happen. I get pretty hot under the collar the way our Veterans are treated (or not treated). These men and women deserve HUMANE treatment. It's about time we stop giving out sex change hormone therapies and surgeries to inmates; it's past time that freeloaders are provided with foodstamps, checks & medical benefits. America should hang her head in shame for the abysmal treatment her Veterans are receiving. The sad fact is that it's become commonplace.
I would like to thank all the people who have served.. they r all heros...and just so peole now there is help out there..My company that i work for does train dogs for our Veterans/ First Responders w/PTSD plus with disability also. check out this website if interested and maybe we can help somebody u know??? www.bigpawscanine.net plus u can find us on FaceBook...
These are veterans who voluntarily put their lives on the line for us . There is no debate necessary here . A veteran who has PTSD and needs a trained dog to help him live his life should get that dog and the VA should pay for it . We waste trillions of dollars on wars we don't win . We can afford to spend a couple of bucks on our veterans .
well said very well said
thanks