I woke up to some interesting and hopeful news. K9s for Warriors, a Florida based non-profit group that works to provide service dogs to veterans with PTSD, put on their boots and marched the halls of Congress. Obviously frustrated with the VA's refusal to recognize service dogs trained to help veterans with this life-crushing disease, they took the issue to Congress and asked for help.
On one hand, if a successful bill makes it through the House and Senate and is signed by the President, it will be a clear victory for veterans and the service dog industry. On the other hand, the VA is notorious for ignoring, stalling and refuting the mandates of Congress. I will be happy to provide numerous references to anyone that seriously doubts that a federal agency willfully ignores laws and mandates issued by Congress. The VA's blatant refusal to follow the laws of the land is not only frustrating to veterans, in many cases it compromises their health and well being.
I can certainly understand the VA's desire for empirical evidence. In this case I think the circumstantial evidence that PTSD service dogs greatly improve the lives of veterans is overwhelmingly favorable. That should be adequate to convince any responsible agency that taking care of their constituents would be the right thing to do. The key word here is responsible.
It boggles my mind that the VA will issue a $22 billion dollar contract to upgrade their current, nightmarish information technology, a mess they made themselves, but they clench their butt cheeks together when it comes to investing in the health of affected veterans. I will vouch from personal experience that properly caring and providing for a service dog is not a cheap endeavor. Some help with pet insurance would go a long way in giving me some breathing room in my monthly budget. Food, insurance (liability and health), a health maintenance plan, OTC medications for things like itchy hot spots or after-bath ear cleaner, treats (healthy ones!), toys, requisite gear and grooming items easily takes a $200 to $300 chunk of my limited income every month. At least.
I spent around a grand getting everything I needed for Rambo when I brought him home. Granted, I got the best items I could so that is probably a little on the high side but not by much. I also made sure I had things like a flotation vest, car seat covers and other nice to have items someone on a tight budget could forego, at least initially. This is not to mention that he came with a $7000 price tag and that was five years ago!
Is a properly trained PTSD dog worth the expense, regardless of where the money is coming from? Without question! Rambo is worth every penny ever spent on him and much, much more! You can put a price on his raising and training and tally up his monthly expenses and that total won't even come close to the value that I put on this dog. I would take a bullet for this dog faster than a Secret Services agent protecting the President. And I wouldn't even have to think about it.
Let me put it in just a little clearer perspective: what monetary value would you put on a human life? Without a trained service dog, my life was absolutely worthless. Now, can you put a price on my life? I sure as hell can and it's readily more than all the money in the world.
Now.
I owe that to my dog and his training organization.
I wish I could get my hands on what the VA pays for medications. Throw in all the overhead for the managing, distributing and dispensing of all those medications and it adds up to a substantial sum, I'm sure.
I realize this is a rhetorical question, but which of these solutions is more cost effective, provides a true holistic approach and doesn't come with any dangerous side effects?
Would you choose this: (A photo of all the medications I take on a daily basis that I can't figure out how to put in the right place using the Blogger app)
Or this? (a picture of my amazing dog that I also can't figure out on the app. Sorry. I'll fix it as soon as I can.)
Yeah. Me too.
If you want to see the number to make this real, the VA spends around $8000 on the first year of care for a veteran with PTSD. Based on my experience, even with spoiling my dog to no end, the most my average yearly cost is $3,600. This figure is not counting the purchase price of the dog. So add in the $7000 for training, $1000 to get him outfitted plus the $3600 yearly cost and the first year cost of a PTSD dog $11,600.
So the first year of the dog is more expensive than VA treatment. Let's look at the long term costs including first year expenses over 10 years (estimated useful career of a service dog.
Dog: $44,000
VA (therapy, drugs, suicide prevention): $80,000.
A difference of $36,000! This does not factor in group discounts and negotiated contract rates the VA could secure which would bring the cost of the dog down significantly. Moreover, you can actually subtract the cost of VA treatment since that money wouldn't be spent in the first place.
It comes down to common sense of which the VA bureaucracy is seriously lacking.
Time for politics:
Please take a few minutes to write or call your Congressmen's office and ask them to support and sign onto this bill. the 2.7 million plus veteran who have had their lives destroyed by PTSD will thank you.
Are you one of those people who always tells a veteran, "thank you for your service?" Well, here is a simple way to make those words count. If you aren't one of those folks who thanks veterans for their sacrifice on your behalf, here is a chance to make up for it.
Get on the phone and make some damn noise! There are people you elected in Washington DC that do listen if you bother to speak up. Make democracy work for those who put their very lives on the line to protect it.
And now for the news.......
Jeanne Blaylock, WTLV-TV, Jacksonville, Florida reports,
WASHINGTON -- Leaders from "K9s for Warriors" just returned from lobbying in Washington D.C.
They are pushing for the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA) to pay for service dogs to help veterans with extreme Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Executive Director Rory Diamond says the VA has refused to recognize how effective the dogs are.
Congressman Ron DeSantis from Florida is sponsoring a bill to force the VA to implement at $10 million dollar pilot program to pay $27,000 per dog to certified training organizations.
He said it’s cost effective in the long run. His office cited a congressional budget figure of $8,000 for the first year alone to treat a vet with PTSD.
Diamond said he believes the VA is just “wrong” when it comes to saying there’s no research that service dogs can be pivotal in successful treatment of PTSD.
He said the VA’s solution of giving sometimes 30 to 40 medicines a day to a veteran doesn’t work.
“I think it numbs their pain. Perhaps keeps a warrior quiet," he said. "But it doesn’t give a little girl her dad back. The meds don’t give a warrior their life back.”
Diamond says out of 217 graduates so far from K9s for Warriors, not a single one has committed suicide.
As for the money if the bill passes?
Diamond said "K9s for Warriors" does not take government money. But the non-profit’s board would have to make a decision about this pilot project.
He also said that no matter what, it’s a “huge breakthrough” for veterans with PTSD.
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