Therapy Dogs Sent To El Paso To Help Comfort Victims And First Responders

Aug 08, 2019 by apost team

By now, most of us have heard of the mass shooting in El Paso. This terrible tragedy has made headlines all around the world. Millions are mourning the massacre that left 22 people dead and many more wounded.

In light of the incident, therapy dogs are being sent to El Paso to help comfort the first responders and medical staff who aided victims during the chaos.  

Methodist Healthcare System flew three of their therapy dogs to El Paso on Sunday morning.  The Healthcare system said in a Facebook post, "Chanel, Ladybug and Rudy our facility dogs are taking their first flight ever to El Paso with our Methodist Healthcare EMS teams to provide support to those impacted by the tragic event." 

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The pups have been interacting with medical staff to help provide unconditional love and support while they cope during the traumatic time. Methodist Healthcare said, "Many times, healthcare employees and first responders don' have the opportunity to grieve and release their stress." The organization also said in a news release to KSAT, 

"The rate of suicides by first responders—firefighters, paramedics, law enforcement—has escalated from one every seven days to one a day, these dogs can reach places in the heart no human can."

One of therapy dog handlers told Access that a nurse at one of the hospitals said bringing the dogs made the hospital feel like it did before the shootings occurred and it helped restore a sense of normalcy to their working environment. "They touch so many lives in so many different ways, for each person, it's just a little bit different," he added.

You can watch more on the dogs' work below:

What did you think about this story? We hope that these two dogs can help first responders and other victims of the tragedy. Drop a comment below, and then pass this on.