Congress must pass the PAWS Act for veterans service dogs

The PAWS Act of 2021 refers to H.R. 1022, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 11, 2021, by Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., and Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio. As of today, this bi-partisan bill is supported by 20 Republicans and nine Democrats, including Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota.    

The Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers Act (PAWS) directs the secretary of Veterans Affairs to “make grants to private entities for the provision of service dogs to eligible veterans with post traumatic stress disorder, and for other purposes.”

This bill would create a $10 million grant program that would cover the cost of pairing a disabled veteran with visible or invisible wounds in the amount of $25,000 per veteran.  The money would be received by qualified nonprofit organizations that offer the roughly 18-month training for dog and veteran. It would also cover travel expenses, veterinarian services and support needed by the veteran. 

The Department of Veteran Affairs has opposed this bill four times that it has been introduced in the past and is not supporting this measure in its upcoming report entitled, “A Randomized Trial of Differential Effectiveness of Service Dog Pairing Versus Emotional Dog Pairing to Improve Quality of Life for Veterans with PTSD.”

The VA opposes the bill because it would “undermine statutorily required functions.”  What?

VA takes the position that it “continues to recommend that veterans be offered evidence-based care for PTSD.”

This latest report is the result of a 10 year, on-again, off-again study at the Atlanta, Georgia; Iowa City, Iowa; and Portland, Oregon VA medical centers. 

During a phone conversation that I had in August 2016 with Dr. Kelly Skelton, the psychiatrist who oversaw the Atlanta VA program, she stated, “these dogs may be a way to help mental health therapy kick in.” She indicated to me her high hopes for this program.

The VA says it must have “evidence-based” proof that dogs can help with the mental health issues such as PTSD, MST and other mental illness that veterans deal with and balks at the $10 million proposed cost of this program. 

Might I remind the bureaucrats at the VA that they have a $10.8 billion budget for mental health in their 2021 budget, plus $312 million for suicide prevention?  

$10 million for the PAWS program is not a hardship to the VA budget, and this program has the potential to enrich and save the lives of veterans in their darkest hours of need.

The mental health professionals at every VA should watch a trained service dog walk into a therapy session with veterans and see the reaction.  Blood pressures will drop, anger lessens and almost every hand reaches out to stroke the animal as it makes its rounds of the room.  The veterans will be calmer and you can see their bodies relax.   Oxytocin, sometimes called the “bonding hormone," is often released with a gentle touch. 

In a new draft regarding the long-term VA study, the VA states “there was a 3.7-point drop in PTSD symptoms among those with service dogs, along with sleep improvements and declines in suicidality and anger.”

Might that result be considered in the “evidence-based” category?

Maurice Maeterlinck, Nobel Prize author stated, “we are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet, and amid all the forms of life that surround us not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.”

This alliance between human and dog can save a veteran from picking up that gun, opening that bottle of pills to wash down with a bottle of whiskey or leaping into the Mississippi River to escape the demons of PTSD. 

Time for the VA to think outside the box!

Please contact your U.S. representatives and U.S. senators and express your support for the PAWS Act that will save a veteran’s life!