Jewl,
Thanks for info about Service Dogs and their training.
Millie
----- Original Message -----
From: Jewl
To: epilepsy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 10:01 AM
Subject: [epilepsy] Service dog cost threatens independence
Angela is a friend of Terri and myself.
http://www.newspressnow.com/life/health/article_0b18a1e1-3f5d-532f-9d93-2528cb27\
5549.html
Or try this link
http://tinyurl.com/7lcx82s
Posted: Monday, June 18, 2012 11:55 pm | Updated: 5:37 pm, Fri Jun 15, 2012.
By Jennifer Gordon | St. Joseph News-Press | 0 comments
Angela Kimbrough worries she'll be homebound again at the end of the year.
The Cameron, Mo., woman had a heart attack in 2006 and discovered she has a
valve dysfunction that makes her vulnerable to cardiac episodes. After her heart
attack, she stayed at home because she didn't want to have a cardiac event in
public when she was away from her medication.
While searching for a medical assistive device, she came across CARES, Inc., a
service dog training center in Concordia, Kan. The non-profit organization
connected her with an Australian shepherd-border collie mix. Freckles can sniff
out when Ms. Kimbrough is on the verge of having a cardiac event. The dog will
bark at her-the only time Freckles barks-if he senses an episode coming on, and
she'll know to take her medication.
Ms. Kimbrough goes on outings every day with Freckles. She eats at restaurants
and does her own shopping.
"I don't live in fear anymore of having an attack because he senses it out," she
says. "I can live a more normal life."
On top of a 16-month socialization training, medical alert dogs from CARES go
through scent discrimination training. Trainers encourage the dogs to use their
noses to solve problems. The bulk of the medical alert work, however, occurs
once CARES pairs an individual with the dog.
"The dog has to be familiar with the individual's normal scent," says Megan
Lewellyn, the canine assistance director at CARES, INC. "Typically when there's
a change, the body changes chemically. That's what the dog picks up on."
Darlene Sullivan, the executive director and founder of the Canine Partners for
Life program out of Cochranville, Penn., trains cardiac medical alert dogs, as
well. Her organization has found that the dogs that alert epileptic patients
also work well for patients with cardiac conditions. The same physiological
process often occurs with seizures as with the heart conditions, if there's an
attack coming on the individual experiences a sudden change in blood pressure
and loss of consciousness. Ms. Sullivan notes the number of heart conditions
that medical alert dogs can identify are few.
Ms. Kimbrough needed a doctor's note for her application for a service dog. Her
cardiologist agreed that a service dog would help her out.
In the five years she's had him, Freckles alerted her to an event once. She
called her parents and was able to get to safety and to her medicine before
anything happened.
Freckles won't be with Ms. Kimbrough much longer. He's almost 10 years old and
slated to retire. At the end of the year, he'll go back to CARES to become a
therapy dog for nursing homes and hospitals.
Ms. Kimbrough can't afford a new service dog. Despite the doctor's
recommendation, Ms. Kimbrough says her insurance company won't cover the cost of
a new dog.
With the hours involved in training a service dog, the animals cost upwards of
$20,000.
Service dog organizations look for ways of shifting the cost burden so the
individual doesn't have to pay the entire fee. Sit Service Dogs in Ava, Ill.,
operates as a business. It sells receiving dogs to offset the cost of the
service program, which brings the service-dog costs down to the $5,000 to $7,000
range. Service Dog Academy in Seattle, Wash., works with individuals to train
their own dogs for service and charges $2,000 for preparation materials and a
week-long instructional course.
CARES, Inc. uses volunteer trainers for the service dogs' socialization
training. Ms. Lewellyn says the $2,500 price tag reflects medical expenses and
food.
"We try to make it as cost effective as possible for individuals to live an
independent life," Ms. Lewellyn says.
Even at that price, Ms. Kimbrough's not sure how she can pay for a dog. She's
set up a donation fund - Angela Kimbrough, P.O. Box 125, Cameron, MO 64429 - to
help cover the cost.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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