SYRACUSE, N.Y. — After the sirens and after the adrenaline wears off, the people we call for help in our worst moments of crisis are left with an impact few of us could imagine.
That’s where Benny the dog comes in at AMR Ambulance in Syracuse.
“He lets you have that moment to think, ‘maybe I’m not ok. Maybe it helps you realize why I’m crying, petting this dog. Maybe I need help. Maybe there is something going on,'” said Jordan Shultz, Benny’s handler at AMR.
The three-year-old golden doodle has been a constant presence at AMR’s headquarters. Senior staff at AMR have seen Benny’s impact firsthand. Even a brief interaction with staff, they say, can regulate a stress hormone and regulate emotions. And Benny holds hands.
Dr. Marley Barduhn is AMR’s Clinical Director of Critical Incident Stress Management. She said people were expected to take the things they saw on the job and just bury them inside themselves in the past. To show any emotion was a sign of weakness, she added.
“We have a physician who works with us and he’d been up all night in the emergency room and it has been a grueling night and he had not slept,” she recalled. “He walked in and saw Benny and fell to his knees and just gave the dog a hug.”
In late January, Benny was deployed to Reagan Airport after the deadly mid-air collision between a military helicopter and an American Airlines jet. He was there for the airline staff who could have easily been forgotten. They still had to work, but were traumatized.
“You don’t think about it when you’re talking about checking in customers at the airport or baggage people that they would be as impacted as they were, but it makes sense,” said Shultz. “Sometimes those are the people who feel guilty about feeling bad, and need help the most.”
The AMR staff said Benny often knows exactly which first responder needs him the most after returning from a call.
The youngest staff members have been raised in a culture that takes mental health more seriously than ever before and the quiet comfort of Benny is proof of that.
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