Make a Difference Week: Veterans, Cancer and Urban Gardens

As part of Make a Difference Week, Steve Adubato talks with people making a difference in the communities from . Richard Robitaille and Tami Pichardo from Berkeley College's Office of Military and Veteran Affairs, joined by Skyla, a two-year-old pit-mix service dog in-training, explain how Skyla will provide emotional support to military and veteran students. Steve Adubato sits down with Michele Gannon and Maria McKeon of Mary’s Place, located in the shore town of Ocean Grove, NJ, to learn about how they support women of all ages dealing with cancer mentally and physically. Steve Adubato goes One-on-One with Mike Devlin, Executive Director of the Camden Children's Garden and President of the Camden City Garden Club to find out how a network of gardens can transform a city & create jobs.

5/10/17 #2037

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome to One On One. I'm Steve Adubato. It is not actually one on one today. We actually have one on three. It is our honor and pleasure to introduce three very special guests. Our good friend Rich Robitaille, Associate Vice President, Office of Military and Veteran Affairs, and Tami Pichardo is Director of Military and Veteran Affairs, and Skyla, a service dog in training at Berkeley College where our good friends at the college are very committed to veterans, those who have served our country and are trying to make a difference. Make the connection with Skyla. What's going on here and what role does Skyla play in helping our veterans? Sure. Many of our veterans who served in combat operations in the recent wars, many veterans come back with a great deal of emotional issues, whether it be PTSD, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, these type of things. Many veterans suffer from these emotional issues their entire life and there's been a great deal of research to show that dogs can be trained to identify these conditions and actually help veterans and help sooth them and help relieve those symptoms of those issues that they challenge. Yeah. You have a special relationship with this dog. Well, she is a rescue and the biggest thing for me is that we were able to adopt a rescue, give her a second chance at life, give her a good home, and give her the second opportunity and the understanding just like the veterans go through. I love her and she loves me. She got a second chance. Mm hmm. Veterans get a second chance when they come back, right? They need that. Describe... break this down for us a little bit. A service dog, right? Like Skyla. What do they do for veterans? And be really clear for people because I don't think people have a sense of how powerful that connection could be. Talk about it Rich. Alright, dogs can sense the emotion in a person as you know, so if a veteran has anxiety, suffers depression, for example, if they start bouncing their leg or they start to have a panic..."