Fire district creates K9 therapy program to support the mental health of employees and community members

To better improve its efforts on the mental health of employees and community members, Western Lakes Fire District has started a K9 therapy program. 

Assistant Chief Matthew Haerter called it an "expansion of an aggressive pursuit for better employee mental health."

"It's something that has been in the district's sights for a couple of years," Haerter said. "It came to fruition when we were able to understand exactly what would be needed for a successful program and pursue the structure of that so it would be implemented properly."

On top of the employee assistance program that the district already offers, along with the critical incident stress debriefings, chaplains and more, the K9 therapy program will add another layer of focusing on the well-being of the district's employees.

"We all, unfortunately, know people who have lost their career, lost their social situation and in some significant circumstances, unfortunately lost their life due to the stresses that cumulate from the job they do over their career," Haerter said. "This is just one more thing that we, as a district, can offer to show that not only do we care about our people, but to allow them to be able to serve the community in the best way possible."

The program currently includes Tesla, a black Lab, and will soon add Bear, a boxer in the process of completing training. Haerter said the program's primary mission will be to see people around the stations but, the dogs will also be used for critical incidents.

"When we ask people if they would like resources such as Red Cross or chaplains or for us to make any other calls for them, now we're offering the option if they would like to see one of our dogs," Haerter said.

The handlers are Western Lakes Fire District employees, according to Haerter.

Saving Others For Archie (SOFA), city of Oconomowoc Aldermen Lou Kowieski and John Zapfel, Hooves and PAWS and the Bergemann State Farm office in Dousman donated about $4,000 to the program.

The money will go toward veterinary, food, training and equipment costs. Haerter said the program has not added to the district's budget.

"Trained fire service therapy K9 teams are very rare, and we are exceptionally fortunate and proud to have a program for our district and residents," Haerter said. "It has already been very successful, with WLFD personnel embracing our pups as one of their own."

To support the program fund or learn more about it, visit westernlakesfd.org.

Contact Evan Frank at (262) 361-9138 or evan.frank@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Evanfrank_LCP.