Nonprofit Connecting Veterans With Therapy Dogs Shut Down
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jake Callahan, a 38-year-old Dorchester native and U.S. Army veteran, says his life changed when he met Emmy.
"They call PTSD the silent killer. I didn't really think I had a problem until I sought help," says Callahan, who served for 14 years before being severely injured in Afghanistan ten years ago.
A French Bulldog named Emmy now helps him manage his PTSD.
Emmy came from nonprofit from Maryland called the Warrior Canine Connection (WCC) trains and provides therapeutic dogs for service members suffering from PTSD.
"Words cannot describe how much my dog has helped me."
The WCC program was recently shut down at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland.
According to WCC, Walter Reed released a statement saying: "We issued a Stop Work order to the prime contractor so that we could restructure the contract to enhance oversight of patient care."
Jake says he is worried about how shutting the program down will hurt veterans.
"I think that this is the worst possible thing to ever shut down to be honest with you. Life has improved ten-fold since I've had this dog has come into my life," Callahan explains.
The nonprofit released a statement of their own, saying, in part: "WCC will continue to provide its unique form of animal assisted therapy and dog placement services to Service Members and Veterans who need our help. Our commitment to this critical mission is unwavering, and our programs at locations not impacted by the stop work order continue to operate as usual. We have received countless inquiries from hundreds of concerned friends, patients, members of the medical community, and lawmakers offering their support and assistance."
