HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WNCN) — They can detect migraines, turn on lights, and warn of a diabetic crisis before it turns deadly. Service dogs trained in North Carolina prisons are changing lives, not just for the people who need them, but for the inmates who train them.
During a ceremony at the Caswell Correctional Center, near Yanceyville, North Carolina, assistance dogs, in various stages of training, show off their skills. One day, the dogs will be able to pull wheelchairs, help people up from a fall, and sense a diabetic crisis before it becomes deadly, but right now they’re still learning.
“It’s like having your own kid. You can’t take your eyes off them,” said Jose Quintana, one of the dog trainers.
“You’re trying to make the best dog you can for the next person in line,” explained fellow trainer, Thomas Fritts
“It’s an honor. It’s an honor and a privilege,” added William Walker, who’s been training assistance dogs for 6 years.
It’s an honor and a privilege none of the trainers expected when they arrived at the Caswell Correctional Center, a medium security state prison housing offenders convicted of all kinds of crimes.
Quintana is in for attempted murder; Fritts is serving time for kidnapping and robbery, and Walker for murder.
“They said that I was irredeemable,” Walker noted. “I got life without parole.”
The inmates are grateful to be part of the ABEL program, which stands for At Both Ends of the Leash.
“I destroyed my life; I destroyed it,” Walker said. “Thank goodness there was some people outside of me who created something to pull a guy like me in and say, ‘It’s not over yet. Let’s see if you can help somebody.’”
ABEL is a partnership with Hillsborough-based nonprofit Eyes Ears Nose and Paws, or EENP. Inmates train the dogs in both mobility assistance and medical alert. EENP then places the service dogs with people who need them.
Just days after being matched with assistance dogs, EENP clients already notice their worlds opening up. While learning to navigate a store in Chapel Hill, they cement a partnership with their dogs, learning to read each other’s signals.
Debbie Cohen has had multiple concussions and now has post-concussion syndrome, which can trigger intense migraines.
“I needed help with mobility assistance, and when I found out these dogs could do medical alerts for migraines also, I was delighted,” she said. Cohen gets a nose-bump from her dog Rose when Rose senses she’s having symptoms.
Rose can also retrieve items Cohen can’t easily get for herself.
“If I drop my cell phone or my keys or my fanny pack, she can pick them up and bring them to me,” Cohen stated. “She can pick up her leash and bring that to me.”
For 5-year-old Hannah-Grace Omiecinski, David, the yellow lab, is a perfect addition to the family. For her parents, he provides peace of mind. Hannah-Grace has vasovagal syncope, which causes episodes of dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. David alerts her parents to impending medical episodes before they affect Hannah-Grace.
“He senses her blood pressure and heart rate changing rapidly,” explained Hannah-Grace’s mother, Bethany Omiecinski. “He knows before we know, so we’re able to control it that way.”
After less than a week together, the dogs are already providing potentially life-saving alerts. At the bookstore where the group is training, Cindy Leacox’s assistance dog, Lattie, bumps Leacox’s leg with her nose to alert her that her blood sugar is low. Leacox has Type 1 Diabetes.
“I live alone so when my blood sugar goes low and I don’t have an assistance dog, I could literally just pass out and die, so it’s been really scary for a person who’s been incredibly active to not do anything,” she said. “It’s been demotivating.” Leacox knows Lattie will give her back her freedom. “There are no words to describe how different my life will be,” she added. “I’ll be me again, and that’s the truth. I’ll be me again.”
A week into training with their service dogs, EENP’s new clients can already imagine the future and the independence these dogs will offer. In a matter of time, the dogs will become a vital part of their lives.
That’s already the case for Jennifer Pegram and her dog Leonard, Aurorah Arndt and her dog Hunter, and Jasmine Glancy and her dog Jewel. All three women attended the ceremony at the Caswell Correctional Center, showing the inmates who trained the dogs the value they bring to their lives.
“He helps me with mobility, balance, and walking,” said Pegram, who has cerebral palsy. “He’ll help me up and down curbs and help me off the ground if I do fall.” She says Leonard’s presence also makes people more likely to approach her and strike up a conversation.
Several inmates wiped away tears as Aurorah Arndt, who lives with multiple chronic illnesses, spoke about her experiences.
“Hunter has saved my life multiple times,” Arndt stated. “My life, even a couple of years ago, is a shadow of what it is now.”
“She has expanded my world,” Jasmine Glancy said of her dog Jewel. Glancy suffers from severe Crohn’s disease and can experience excruciating pain. “I would go to the grocery store and wouldn’t be able to get out of bed or off the couch for four days,” she recalled. “Jewel is life changing.”
As the ABEL program’s name suggests, the dogs change lives at both ends of the leash.
“It’s changed me from being someone who just lived to having a sense of meaning and a sense of purpose,” explained Thomas Fritts. After more than 20 years in prison, Fritts says working with the dogs helps him see himself differently. “You’re a dad; you’re a friend; you’re a teacher; you’re a mentor. You’re everything, and it makes you become responsible. It makes you hold yourself accountable. It makes you set goals.”
“It’s made me human again,” he added. “I know that sounds corny, but that’s what it is. It’s made me human again.”
As much as these trainers teach, they also learn. Inmate and ABEL trainer, Jose Quintana put it this way:
“It’s taught me a lot of patience, taught me to slow down and think, how to become responsible and not live for myself, but actually give back, which is what this is all about… I’m giving back for the first time in 23 years.”
“We can do things to prove to ourselves that we can change,” Walker emphasized. “Lives change and miracles happen and that’s kind of what ABEL does.”
For those confined by illness, pain, or prison walls, these dogs are opening doors, offering hope and a future.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
