In the coming weeks, PAWS/LA will be launching a new program designed to help veterans and their companion animals. In keeping with their mission to preserve the human-animal bond, the nonprofit organization has begun providing assistance and advocacy for low-income veterans with PTSD and their pets.
In the process of launching this program, we learned that veteran animal guardians have unique needs. Due to the trauma of combat and serving in the military, many veterans are fighting PTSD. Studies of veterans have shown that exposure to animals increases Oxytocin levels. Oxytocin is the hormone that reduces blood pressure, stress levels, and recognize facial expressions in other people. Reducing stress levels can help those living with PTSD who are prone to paranoia.
This document is meant to serve as an introduction of PAWS/LA’s new program:
“I would rather be homeless than lose my Shadow,” he said.
Veterans Thrive with Companion Animals: Pets help ease impact of PTSD
The toll of war is felt far beyond the battlefield. Its repercussions are heard on distant continents, in faraway cities and in remote alleys. The scars of battle are often unseen, like phantoms that haunt those who remember. For many veterans, the horror of war is their only constant companion.
On the streets of our own city the cost of war is self-evident, counted in cases of homelessness, crippling post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), and drug abuse among veterans. For many post-9/11 veterans in particular the cost of surviving war often makes life excruciating. As many as 22 veterans a day commit suicide because they could not cope with PTSD.
Young soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and women carry their untreated wounds with them on the streets of Los Angeles. Their open scars making them vulnerable to enemies potentially more dangerous even than those they faced in combat. Luckily, experts from around the country, say there are new alternatives to treat these wounded veterans.
Recent research by the University of Texas illustrates the benefits of animal companionship to veterans with PTSD. According to the study, the group of veterans who participated formed close bonds with their pets, which allowed them to become more physically and socially active.
The team from UT reported that they also saw improvements in the veteran’s overall happiness, ability to cope with stress and relationships with others.
The new research gives hope to the thousands of veterans in Los Angeles County living with PTSD. With all that is pitted against veterans, anything that helps make their lives more bearable should not be discounted.
The findings by UT and other studies come as no surprise to PAWS/LA, a nonprofit organization that has helped vulnerable communities preserve the human-animal bond in Los Angeles County. In 27 years, they have understood the benefits of companion animals to the HIV/AIDS community and , since the new millennium, have witnessed the benefits animals provide for low-income seniors as well.
The four-legged companions have been proven to provide physiological and psychological advantages, including lowering blood pressure, increasing endorphin levels, curbing depression, and limiting the devastating effects of loneliness and isolation.
What does come as a big surprise for PAWS/LA and the entire animal community is the newest data that was recently compiled. According to PAWS/LA, in Los Angeles County there are 11,200 veterans with PTSD who are living below the poverty line and rely on emotional support animals to cope with the difficulties of the illness. In the City of Los Angeles alone there are 2,700.
Jon Doe, a veteran who completed two tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq before the age of 25, turns to his dog Shadow for friendship and support.
“She listens to me, she keeps me company, sometimes when we can’t find a place to spend the night, she even keeps me warm,” Doe said. “I can’t imagine my life without her.”
Doe was diagnosed with PTSD in 2011 after dropping out of school, losing contact with his long-term girlfriend, and losing his job within a six-month period.
“I felt like there was something happening inside of me that I could not control,” he said. “I could not sleep at night, I could not tell anyone what I was experiencing, but I kept returning to the desert (of the Middle East) every night.”
In 2013, Doe adopted a terrier mix when a friend’s neighbor had a liter. He recalls the little black dog that no one seemed to want. Doe could relate. They’ve been inseparable ever since.
Thanks to Shadow, Doe started piecing his life back together.
“It’s incredible how this little face made me want to try again,” Doe says. “I was able to get help from a family member and cleaned up my act. I found a job, Shadow and I eventually got a small apartment—things were looking good for us.”
Then Shadow got hit by a car; hit and run. She needed surgery to repair a broken hip and a few cracked ribs. Doe gave up his apartment to pay for her veterinary bills. She soon recovered but the two were back on the street.
“I would rather be homeless than lose my Shadow,” he said.
Doe is one of the thousands of vulnerable veterans who are forced to choose between their closest companion and a roof over their head. This means that veterans are not gaining access to transitional housing and therapy, and when the veteran puts his or her health first, then their beloved pet will fall mercy to the streets or to shelters already at capacity.
It is an impossible choice, the consequences of which are potentially deadly for both the person and animal alike.
Worst of all it’s been shown that veterans who are able to keep their service, therapy, emotional support and companion animals and gain access to housing see significant health benefits across the board.
Nancy Adamson, a licensed therapist and clinical counselor with the Vet Center in Chatsworth, says that pets are not necessarily a cure-all, but believes they can help open many doors for veterans with PTSD.
“Veterans with PTSD are committing suicide at an alarming rate; they are dealing with homelessness and financial hardship at twice the rate of their peers without PTSD,” she said. “If emotional support and companion animals can help them get their lives back and start making a contribution to society, I say let’s help them.”
Adamson admits that companion animals alone are not the solution. There is no perfect solution without mental health care, housing and career skills. But even she agrees that pets are a means to an end – giving veterans a chance to fight poverty and disability.
“Our goal in the veteran’s healthcare community is to help the men and women who served our nation reintegrate back to society. These animals can help,” she said.
Adamson is not the only healthcare provider who supports the use of companion animals as instruments for healing. Multiple professionals across the country agree that companion animals are paramount to the success of veterans.
Additionally, case workers interviewed at the VA of Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System reported that homeless veterans often refuse to enter in-patient mental health treatment and drug abuse counseling because they are unable to find temporary foster care for their companion animals.
Homeless plus PTSD seems to be a standard equation for veterans in Los Angeles County. But as it currently stands, homeless veterans are often denied access to housing because of a companion animal. The main reasons according to the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority and Los Angeles Family Housing is that this community does not have access to vaccinations or spay and neuter programs. Being homeless also means that even if a pet has been vaccinated and sterilized, the veteran may have lost the paperwork records to prove it.
What is very worrisome is that the majority of the homeless veterans living with PTSD are eligible for having their companion animals certified as emotional support animals, and in some cases can be trained to work as service animals.
But, without resources, advocacy and education, these at-risk veterans continue to rely on the streets for shelter.
How does housing help veterans?
The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development put the official total of homeless veterans nationally at 47,725. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority’s 2015 homeless count, there were 4,326 homeless veterans in Los Angeles County in 2015. This means that about one in ten homeless veterans resides in LA. In the city of Los Angeles alone, the number of homeless veterans stood at 2,733 in 2015.
Identifying the need and reaching veterans
According to a survey of Southern California veterans conducted by PAWS/LA in partnership with numerous other organizations, veteran pet guardians require a variety of services to help keep and care for their companion animals.
About half of the veteran pet guardians who participated in the survey said they need help feeding their companion animal. More than 70 percent of those surveyed require help providing veterinary care. One in five veterans need help finding free or low-cost spay/neuter services and help finding foster care. Additionally, close to 75 percent of veterans surveyed indicates they need assistance getting their pets certified as a service animal, emotional support or therapy animal.
“If it were that easy to keep people and their pets together and help veterans with PTSD restart their lives, then that’s a small price to pay,” says Pamela Magette Executive Director of PAWS/LA. “That is why PAWS/LA is going to launch a pilot program in fall 2016 to address the needs of veterans and their pets.”
The organization’s journey to starting this pilot program began when reading the statistics about veterans in Los Angeles County. It became very real when veterans and their animals began calling and showing up at their office looking for help maintaining their pet.
Finally, the conclusions reached by the University of Texas researchers are consistent with similar studies that have taken place over the last three decades. In those studies, scientists took into consideration the benefits of companion animals on seniors and adults living with HIV/AIDS. It was the success of those studies, coupled with their own observations that led the Los Angeles based nonprofit, PAWS/LA (Pets Are Wonderful Support) to first open its doors to vulnerable pet guardians as far back as the late 1980s.
“It is no surprise to learn that companion animals have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of veterans with PTSD,” said Pamela Magette, Executive Director of PAWS/LA. “We have seen how important pets are to the happiness and long-term health of seniors and those disabled by a life-threatening illness.”
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