MIAMI - Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in Florida is expanding a program to help the men and women of the department. The group is working with the county's animal services and the Greyhound Association to adopt dogs of different breeds to be trained as station therapy dogs.
"For the first time in the 22 years that I've worked here we're now seeing firefighters embrace a program that's good for their mental health, whether they know the science or not, the dogs still work," Captain Shawn Campana said. "You know they give a sense of calm, a sense of connection, which is absolutely something that's vital when you're dealing with something like PTSD."
She started the program three years ago after losing six friends and co-workers to suicide and PTSD.
"After a tough call, the team is requested by the crews that ran the call and the dogs are part of the peer response team," Campana said.
The goal is to ease situations after firefighters handle a stressful job.
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