Huntington Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief John McVeigh with “Duke,” the department’s first responder therapy dog.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
HUNTINGTON — The Huntington Fire Department has two new canine members. “Duke,” a 3-year-old golden retriever owned by Assistant Fire Chief John McVeigh is training as a therapy dog for first responders. “Luna,” a 7-month-old Belgian Malinois owned by Firefighter Nicholas Perry is training for search and rescue. Both firefighters intend to make the dogs available to the wider community once fully trained and certified.
The training of both dogs is backed by the Huntington Fire Association and the Fire Department. “This project has my full support,” said Huntington Fire Chief Joshua Ellinger.
McVeigh said the idea to train his dog as a therapy dog came from his own experience with post-traumatic stress and also something he saw in Duke. He said first responders deal with some of the worst situations during their careers that can lead to severe depression, PTSD, alcohol abuse and unfortunately suicide.
During a recent Emergency Medical Responders class hosted at Gateway Regional, McVeigh was speaking with new and experienced first responders about his own experiences with PTSD that caused him to spiral and forced him to take a leave of absence, and about the importance of getting help and talking about traumatic calls with peers.
McVeigh said he realized what he needed to do was to help first responders not go through what he did; and the therapy dog program was born, he said.
McVeigh got in touch online with Captain Reed of the West Metro Fire Department in Colorado about that company’s therapy dog program, how it works, and how it has benefited their department. He said the program began with one dog in one station, and now has 13 dogs that live in 17 fire stations.
Reed told him having a therapy dog helped their firefighters to open up and talk with their peer counselors about their emotions after bad calls, resulting in a positive change in their lives. McVeigh said Reed told him that people wouldn’t open up until they put a dog in the room.
“We can’t afford to lose our first responders to something that can be avoided, if we are able to open up and support each other by talking about it. Therapy dogs have been proven for years to be an effective tool to allow this to happen,” McVeigh said. Duke will be a part of the critical incident stress management (CISM) meetings hosted after traumatic calls that are moderated by Western Mass Emergency Medical Services.
Duke is currently going through training and will continue to certify his Good Citizen status to maintain insurance every year to provide therapy services to first responders. McVeigh said starting in April, he and Duke will be available to come to any Fire Department, Police Department, EMS agency or Dispatch Center during a CISM meeting, or even if departments just need “a little cheering up on the morale side.” He said before a meeting begins, Duke will be introduced to everyone and once the meeting begins only Duke will be in the room with only those involved in the CISM. A week after the meeting, McVeigh and Duke will return with a follow up visit to see how everything is going.
Duke will be available to departments within a 45 minute radius of Huntington at no cost, by sending an initial request text message to 860-967-1046 with the message stating “Duke Needed.” McVeigh will return the request via phone call within 20 minutes of receiving the message.
He said if any department wants to have a meet and greet with Duke, text “Meet Duke” to set up a time to just meet him and play with him for a little while and introduce him to everyone. “Please don’t hesitate to reach out sooner than later. Mental health of our first responders is critical to our first responders, our communities and their families. We look forward to working with you in the future,” McVeigh said.
“Luna,” handled by Perry, will be part of the Huntington Fire Association’s search and rescue program, launched in February to help fund her training and use. Once trained, Luna will be dispatched to aid in locating missing live persons. Her services will become available to the town of Huntington as well as surrounding areas as needed.
The training will require at least six months to a year in order to successfully pass a nationally recognized certification. During this time, Perry will be volunteering his own time to complete the training necessary and will work with many cities, towns and agencies promoting the abilities of K-9 Luna.
“The rural setting of Huntington along with the surrounding areas could greatly benefit from the availability of a search and rescue trained K-9 due to a more timely response compared to other available resources. There are well-trained K-9s available upon request for cases of missing people, but are usually not nearby when requested. In extreme cases where a person may be injured, become injured or is susceptible to extreme temperatures or weather conditions, a rapid response of a search and rescue K-9 could greatly increase that person’s chances of survival,” according to the Huntington Fire Association’s Facebook announcement.
This program will initially be funded entirely by donations from anyone who may see this as a valuable resource. Donations will help to underwrite the cost for gear, training tools, equipment and certification fees. Fundraisers will be hosted and announced at a later date where money will be raised to directly support the training of Luna, accrued expenses for her well-being, and necessary fees associated with her certification.
After Luna passes her first certification, she will be able to respond to searches, becoming a valuable addition to current available resources. Perry and Luna will need to continue their training on a regular basis to fine tune their skills and will continually pass a yearly recertification requirement.
Luna will work alongside members of Huntington Fire Department to serve the town of Huntington as well as mutual aid partners. Luna’s certification will allow her to be requested by any other local, state or federal agency requesting her skill set.
Anyone wishing to donate to the training of Duke and Luna, may mail a check to the Huntington Fire Association, PO Box 122, Huntington, MA 01050 or by donating to fundraisers for their training posted on the Huntington Fire Department MA and Huntington Fire Association MA Facebook pages.
