Client Donation
Clients are given the option to fundraise to cover their tuition fee for team training (the 2.5 week class they take to learn how to work with their assistance dog before taking the dog home). The cost is $5,000, which is only a small part of the nearly $40,000 that it takes to raise, train and place each assistance dog. You can help by donating all or a portion of the tuition by choosing your client's name on the donation form.
FACILITY DOG
My name is Damon Woodley, and I am a physical therapist. I am also the Director of Rehabilitation at NHC-Parklane in Columbia, which is a skilled nursing facility that serves 170-plus patients and residents. Some people come to our facility for a short period of time for rehabilitation as patients, and some people live here as residents.
Our facility tries to create a pleasant, home-like atmosphere for our patients and residents, and I feel a PAALS facility dog will enhance their experience. Through the facility dog’s unique training, the dog can participate in patient treatments to engage our patients differently and provide new and varied treatments to improve their rehabilitative process. The dog will help improve patient morale and encourage patient participation. Furthermore, the dog can help engage our facility’s residents in activities or just visit them in their rooms to lift their spirits.
With the help of a PAALS facility dog, I hope to improve the quality of life for all our patients and residents.
Damon W.
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facility DOG
My name is James L. Smyrl, Ph.D., and I serve as a Clinical Chaplain for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ). As a Clinical Chaplain, I provide spiritual care, counsel, advice, and interact daily with at-risk youth in our facilities. Clinical Chaplains are the boots on the ground for the spiritual, emotional, and mental wellbeing of agency youth. I believe the opportunity to interact with a PAALS facility dog will offer a key catalyst for our youth’s success.
In researching facility and therapy dog successes in juvenile correctional institutions throughout the country, I’ve learned of the overwhelmingly positive results. Recidivism rates drop. Youth are far more likely to receive counseling and join group therapeutic sessions if a dog is present. Employees who are regularly exposed to a facility dog experience a reduction in stress and increase in job satisfaction. I want to partner with a PAALS facility dog because an immeasurable number of of SCDJJ youth and employees will be positively impacted throughout the facility dog’s career.
Our mission at SCDJJ is to rehabilitate youth so that they have a bright future. The skillset of a facility dog trained by PAALS to calm and create a desire of dialogue in teenagers will result in them being more willing to share their struggles and absorb all that I seek to invest in them daily. My effectiveness as a teacher, counselor, group therapy facilitator, mentor/advisor, and pastor will vastly improve with a facility dog by my side.
james
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PTSD Dog
Hi! My name is Susanne, but most people call me Susie. I’m a mother (of two adolescent children), a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, an educator, a colleague, a neighbor, a survivor. In all of these roles, because of the traumas I have experienced, I struggle to be me.
As a lifelong learner, I believed it was possible to push through the impact of two strokes, at 36 years of age, to continue my education. My dream turned into reality in May of 2016 when I was accepted into a doctoral program. What should have been a summer of intense work and wonderful memories, turned out to be the summer I will never forget. On June 8th, I survived a domestic violence event involving a firearm. With little time to process the trauma, five weeks later, my husband completed suicide. These back-to-back traumas released a waterfall of nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, fear, anxiety, and more that continue to impact my life.
I am diagnosed with chronic PTSD, anxiety and depression and regularly see a mental health counselor. A PTSD service dog can intervene and calm me during a panic attack, keep people out of my personal space, and generally help me feel empowered to do things I’d normally avoid. After my children attended the PAALS interview with me, they said, “Mommy, we really hope you are able to get a dog. Your smile was back to normal and you were so happy with the dog!” Having PTSD service dog would help me regain control of my life.
Susie
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PTSD Dog
Something broke. I spent over 20 years in the Air Force transporting patients on large aircraft. Cared for thousands of patients on hundreds of missions to places all over the globe. Had deployments for Panama, Desert Storm, Kosovo, and five for Afghanistan/Iraq. On one, of what would be my last few missions, it hit me. The Marine was horribly burned and critically unstable after an IED blew up his vehicle, he actually got out OK, but went back in to save his Squad mates. I certainly cared for patients worse off but for some reason, after we reached altitude and I’d completed my assessment of him, something inside me broke. I sat down, focused on mission paperwork, and never touched another patient.
It’s been over 15 years and I have trouble with even the most basic of social interactions. Been years since I’ve been to a movie theater, a sit down restaurant, spent the night away from home, or flown on an airplane. I am so grateful for the opportunity to receive a Service Animal that will provide me the support, the emotional grounding, and calming effect to allow me to re-engage with life.
LAMAR
