Patient Has A Service Dog

[Richard B the EMT]

Service animals guide the visually impaired, as their eyes. They pull their person in their wheelchair, therefore they've become their legs. The animal is trained to pick up fallen items, or items that have been placed on the floor, so they have become the handler's arm and hands. There's even a deaf FBI agent, who is alerted to audio cues by her "hearing ear" dog.

The service animals are as much an extension of the human they work for, as any prosthetic device is, of that person's arm or leg. Emotional attachment? Sure, but that comes later, after the team trains together.

I never seen dog food in a hospital.

You must not have eaten hospital food while a patient.

LOL

[paramedicmike]

I get what you're saying, Dwayne.

The biggest difference between the two, service animals and Mrs. Brown's 'Fluffy', that I see is the intent. Service animals are trained and prepared to perform a specific role in an effort to assist someone with a verifiable disability. The process is long, arduous, time consuming and expensive. Not every animal in training succeeds. So someone can't take just any dog and say, "This is a service animal" in the same manner that you can take just about any dog and say, "This is my pet". The distinctions between the role and function of the two are so vastly different.

Someone with a legitimate disability requiring the assistance of a service animal generally uses the animal in place of something that "normal" people (because really, who's normal?) takes for granted. To argue that those with a disability aren't entitled to "emotional security" through their animal is like arguing that those admitted in hospital should be blinded or deafened for the duration of their stay. If someone who relies on a seeing eye dog doesn't deserve to have his/her "eyes" while in the hospital then neither does anyone else. (I know that's not what you're advocating.)

To be completely honest with you, if some little old grandmotherly like lady says she's not going without her pet "Fluffy" then she'll be sorely disappointed... Fluffy's not going. But if that same little old grandmotherly lady tells me her half blind, half deaf, arthritic, ankle biting Chihuahua is a service animal then Fluffy's coming with.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Great article on service dogs on page 5d of usa today. Service dogs and autism

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

[Bieber]

Richard, no matter what the ADA laws may say, your first and foremost obligations are to your own safety and to patient care. Though, in all fairness, I don't think that the situation often arises where it becomes a problem.

[fakingpatience]

I tried to post this earlier, but I guess it didn't go through (darn you internet at work!)

Basically, a service dog provides the person with a disability a measure of independence equal to that of an 'able body' person. Yes, in the hospital there are staff who can help the disabled person with the task, but the act of needing to ask for help for everything lessens the independence of the person. If they have a dog there who can help them, they are enabled to be more independent, and 'equal.' While the task can get done either way, the self esteem of the person with the disability is much higher if they do not need to ask for help, but have a 'tool' (ie the dog) they can use to get the task done

Hope this helps explain some!

(Sorry for it being a bit rambley, I am just getting off a stand up 24...)

[fakingpatience]

I've asked very specifically over and over. This disabled person that can't live without their dog, what will this person perish from that the dog can provide and a human can't? I know we all feel good saying, "This dog is this person's link to a normal life!" But what makes that true in the hospital environment?

I feel good saying, "The Taliban are kind, but misunderstood souls. I believe that there is every sign that they will reverse their political/religious positions any day now!" That felt fucking awesome!! But don't you think that I should have some sort of examples to back that up? Even when dealing with those with special needs, shouldn't we have to be bothered to defend out points?

Why does the person with special needs need their animal in the hospital more than a cop needs his gun, or an elderly person needs the emotional support/comfort of their pet?

Dwayne

Dwayne

I have thought about different ways to phrase this (as you can see in my above answer), and then I saw your post about your kid w/ autism, and thought this might be relevant. As I am sure you know, they have service dogs for children with autism and various other disorders. One of the things that the dog can help with is calming the child and preventing self injurious behaviors. While another human may be able to provide the calming powers of the dog, it would require 1:1 support round the clock to be the equivalent of what the dog provides. The dog is attuned to the person's behavior, so they can sense when the self injurious behavior is coming, and step in to change the behavior pattern. Also, if the person is used to relying on the dog (especially for someone who functions best when routines are not broken), they will do much better with the dog there providing the support rather then a stand in. (note, I am not saying that it would not be important to also have the other humans at the hospital, just trying to point out the benefit of a service dog in a different light)

[uglyEMT]

I had to think about this alot before posting. I see we are all basically in agreement that we would take the service dog but not "Fluffy".

In regards to what Dwayne has asked. Dwayne I see the point your making about what can the dog do that a nurse can't do but have to say, ever been in a hospital for more than an hour? I know in my father's case (he is a quad) they have left him sitting in his own "mess" even after multiple pushes of the call button, have placed the water glass just out of reach of the straw, the TV remote to far for his tool to touch it, the voice button for the phone way out of reach, ect. Now understandable he doesn't have a service dog but do you see where I am going? Say the person has the dog and the nurses do what I mentioned above, minus the mess, the dog would be able to provide for them. Thus removing the animal from the equation dibilitates them. I am not speaking of emotional ties just what the service animal can provide while in a hospital situation.

Yes granted as others have mentioned if it will be a detriment to my actions or a threat to my crew then I would leave the animal and make arrangements to get the animal taken care of either by a family member or transported to the hospital by another crew, LEO, or even animal control. I think when you look at it unemotionally you can see where the service animal is actually a help not a hinderence.

I think it all depends on the situation and one blanket statment will not cover everything but I do think that it would be a good idea to bring the animal along.

[DwayneEMTP]

...To be completely honest with you, if some little old grandmotherly like lady says she's not going without her pet "Fluffy" then she'll be sorely disappointed... Fluffy's not going. But if that same little old grandmotherly lady tells me her half blind, half deaf, arthritic, ankle biting Chihuahua is a service animal then Fluffy's coming with.

Mike, thanks for taking my comments in the spirit intended. And your above statement is, as I'm sure you know and being the reason you posted it, the crux of my argument. Why are you willing to advocate for one pt and not the other? What makes one grandmother's emotional comfort more important than another? I would suggest that it's perhaps your involvement in the creation of these animals that pushes you towards seeing them as needing special rights and protection.

Most here I'm willing to bet have a tv tainted view of the abilities of the vast, vast majority of aid animals. I once trained a dog for a lady that could only blink her eyes reliably. No purposeful hand, body, facial movement other than that. So I not only had to teach to cue off of only the eyes, but to ignore all of the other random cues coming from the involuntary body movements. I don't remember her medical issue. I taught her dog to turn lights off and on,her tv off and on, pull her blanket back across her when it fell, fetch her drunken aid when necessary. It's was the most complicated task I'd ever undertaken as a trainer. But you know what? That dog, as accomplished as it was would have been near useless without a LOT of addl training in the hospital environment. He would have needed to be trained to recognize and avoid IV lines, monitor lines, cath tubes and bags, etc, etc, etc. The staff would have needed to be trained not to queer the behaviors already in place as well. Now, if you're going to tell me that your dogs are just so well trained that they would immediately recognize all of those potential hazards and avoid them, then I'll believe you, but I'll call bullshit on anyone else that tries to claim so. I was involved in animal behaviorism for 15 years, so not exactly a virgin on this topic.

In fact , I did try a couple of times to get involved with organizations that train aid animals and even gave a demonstration to several hundred trainers in Phoenix once, but their training methods were so archaic, and their resistance to using scientifically proved methods of behavior modification so severe that I finally surrendered to the fact that I couldn't do any good there and trained aid animals privately instead.

The only reason I explain the above is to try and give you confidence that I do have some idea of the subject matter that we are discussing and can say, with almost no doubt whatsoever that a handicapped pt in the acute phase of their medical treatment will gain nothing from their aid animal that another person in the same position wouldn't gain from their pet.

It's been a good topic! Has certainly made me think my ass off trying to create and defend my point of view.

Dwayne

Ruffster. I was referring to you in my earlier post here. I saw that you sent a PM but the City generates an error whenever I try to go to it so have no idea what it says.

[+medic]

Heck, dogs are far cleaned than many of the humans we pick up.

You can always clean the rig when you are done with the call.

Dogs are also better behaved then a lot of the patients we get.

Any how is service dogs are allowed in lets say Walmart they are defiantly allowed in the ambulance.

Edited February 16, 2011 by +medic

[Just Plain Ruff]

"To be completely honest with you, if some little old grandmotherly like lady says she's not going without her pet "Fluffy" then she'll be sorely disappointed... Fluffy's not going. But if that same little old grandmotherly lady tells me her half blind, half deaf, arthritic, ankle biting Chihuahua is a service animal then Fluffy's coming with"

I flew Airtran airways sunday. They will waive the baggage fee if you can prove that your suitcase is a service device.

I asked what about service dogs and she said they fly free as long as they fit under the seat in front of the passenger. She said she's never had a problem with any size service dog.

I didn't get her to buy the possibility that my bag was a service device. She did ask if I had a medical device in it and I said no, and she said that that would have waived the baggage fee. But that it was up to each check in agent how they handled those types of things.