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For more information on HOPE
Animal-Assisted Crisis Response
or the Animal-Assisted Crisis
Response, National Standards,
please visit
www.hopeaacr.org .HOPE AACR began in 1998 after responding to a high school
shooting in Oregon. Since then, we’ve responded to fires, hurricanes,
transportation accidents, school shootings and the loss of emergency
responders. We are National Members of VOAD and we often
partner with other organizations such as FEMA, Red Cross, Salva-
tion Army, schools, law enforcement, fire fighters, and county or state
Emergency Services . We are frequently invited back for memorial
services for the fallen as well.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, HOPE was called by
the American Red Cross to serve in New York City. Disaster mental
health counselors and chaplains present at the Pier 94 Family Assis-
tance Center recognized the AACR teams’ ability to engage and relax
people in a matter of minutes, providing a sense of safety, comfort,
and relief from the overwhelming grief. After watching numerous
interactions, a chaplain requested AACR teams for the firefighters at
Ground Zero.
A woman named Karen Soyka, an American Red Cross, Disas-
ter Mental Health specialist at Ground Zero, was quoted as saying,
“Their (the firefighters’) defenses were high. When the crisis response
dogs would come along, they would react, and their eyes would light
up or they would smile.” Karen couldn’t believe what the dogs were
able to do with the first responders in minutes what it took her days
to accomplish. Dogs can alter our behavior. How many of you have
come home frustrated or upset only to be greeted by your pets? You
kneel down to pet them, get a kiss or two, and before you know it,
you’re smiling! We become calm with our pets. We are able to slow
our breath, speech, and minds.
While at the WTC site in 2001, our dog teams endured long
hours of service, and they had transportation and environmental
issues. Afterwards we realized that we needed to establish some
governing standards to keep the teams safe. For example, we needed
guidelines on rest for both the handler and the dog. What do you
think it smelled like at ground zero? Was it healthy to breathe? Was it
healthy to walk without shoes? Were we prepared for everything that
we might encounter?
We realized that there was a great deal to change if we were to keep
our teams safe and healthy in post-disaster environments. Cindy
Ehlers gathered a group of psychologists, social workers, and canine
behaviorists with crisis response experience from both HOPE AACR
and National AACR, to develop National Standards for AACR.
The National Standards for AACR take the lessons learned and
create a process-based structure that provides for the safety of the
humans and canines, regardless of the type of hazard or disaster. It
fosters collaboration, cooperation, effective solutions, and safe interac-
tions. The National Standards are not a rigid list of “do’s and don’ts”
because every disaster is different. The National Standards foster tak-
ing good practices and making them best practices.
Continuous assessment and debriefings allow us to recognize and
incorporate new ideas and adapt to the ever changing environment of
crisis response.
Our teams must be registered and active in therapy work in the
community for at least a year. Our responders are screened for stabil-
ity, personality, and temperament before being invited to attend an
intensive three day workshop. At the screening, applicants are put
through life-like disaster scenarios with the sounds of planes crashing
and people screaming and babies crying. They must navigate through
several stations with the dogs while constantly being evaluated on
how each scenario is handled.
If invited to stay for the workshop, applicants and the dogs
participate in three days of intense training filled with information
related to emergencies, disasters, Incident Command protocols, and
activities geared towards dealing with the high levels of stress encoun-
tered in an actual crisis. They visit fire departments, experience lights
and sirens and fire fighters in full turnouts. They visit the airport and
go through TSA screening. They ride a bus to visit a busy mall and
dine with twenty other teams. Upon passing the workshop, teams are
certified as crisis response teams and insured for a million dollar li-
ability policy. Each individual is required to continue his or her train-
ing by earning CEU’s annually to remain active in HOPE AACR.
HOPE AACR is a 501c3 national organization split into five different
regions: the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain,
Eastern, and Southeastern. If a disaster occurs outside our region and
there are sufficient funds to make the journey, teams may travel across
regions if called to serve. There are now over 250 teams nationally.
All members are volunteers and frequently pay for their own expenses
if deployed. And teams never self-deploy – they wait to be invited by
someone in authority.
We at AACR hope we will have an opportunity to serve with you in
the future. We’ve seen the difference our ministry makes, like in Oso,
Washington when we were able to work with local counselors to help
the victims of the mudslides. As we partnered with the counselors
from Green Cross, we were able to make a difference in the lives of
those who needed aid!
Pam Reinke
is a retired Critical Care RN with
40 years experience. She has been involved in
animal-assisted therapy for ten years. She and
her golden doodle, Hope, became members
of HOPE AACR in 2013. She is currently the
Arizona Coordinator for HOPE AACR.