Meet Irma

We have a veteran in need along with her service dog Bear.  There are not too many organizations that help veterans that are pre- 9/11 and Irma is one of them. We need to raise funds for her and her training with Bear to help her with so many medical complications.

Irma adopted Bear when he was 10 1/2 weeks old from the Cherokee Humane Society, in Cherokee County. At the time, another organization called Companions For Heroes (C4H) paid for his adoption as well as his training to get his Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification. Bear got off to a late start with his training, (January 6, 2018), because of trying to get additional funding from C4H for his CGC training.

Irma has Bear to help her with her disabilities and health challenges. This is her story.

Irma is a 100% disabled veteran with PTSD, depression, and mobility issues among other things, but getting Bear trained to help alert her would be a great big help to her to go out in public with no fear of encountering trigger.

Additionally, she has had both of her knees replaced and has had some stability issues with falling. She has been using a cane, but her VA doctor has ordered a walker so that she can have more stability vs using a cane.  All of the falling that she been doing lately is grounds for injury or worse. Bear can be taught to catch Irma when she falls by positioning himself for her to fall over him vs falling directly on the floor or into something that might cause her injury, like a step, a bureau, even just walking outside and losing her balance and falling.

Irma also arthritis in her lower back as well as bursitis in both hips along with periformis syndrome. The arthritis makes it hard for her to bend over and pick things up that she may drop. Getting Bear training to pick things up will be a great help to her. Bear has been alerting her when her thyroid levels are out of balance. Bear started doing this on his own at 4 months old. This is an area that Bear can be a great benefit to Irma to help her with when it comes to her medication(s).

Bear can alert her like he does for her thyroid levels and also remind Irma to take her medications. Bear is learning how to turn on/off lights to make it easier on her as well as putting his paws up on a chair so she can put his gear on him and not have to do a lot of bending over.

There are many things that we are working with Bear on to be able to help Irma. We have added blocking for Irma to tell her to stop moving for a while and get her balance by using his body as a brace for her. Irma is in constant pain and Bear has been taught to provide Pressure point therapy and warmth to those areas of her body where the muscles are sore.

Please consider helping Irma and Bear to raise the money for the additional training that Bear needs to assist Irma with her disabilities and other physical challenges. No donation is is too small and every donation is life changing and appreciated more than you know.

Paws for Life USA, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, dedicated to training Service Dogs.

The tax ID for your tax deductible donation is: 86-1094919

Paws for Life USA
P.O. Box 72016
Marietta, GA 30007-2016

Phone: 770-402-0297
Fax: 770-579-8289
Email: admin@pawsforlifeusa.org