Who kicked out the Veteran Service Dog Program From Its Offices

gotsnowgotslush

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Two weeks before Veteran's Day, someone made a decision to evict the service dog programs from their DC offices, and Virginia offices.


October 27, Yount was told that Warrior Canine Connection needed to move out of their three of its offices at Fort Belvoir and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center by the end of the day.

“At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I received a phone call saying there was a stop-work order,” Yount said.

http://crooksandliars.com/2017/11/t...dliars.com&utm_term=68739&utm_content=2153132



A program that prepares service dogs for wounded veterans was abruptly kicked out of its offices in two military campuses near Washington D.C. without warning in late October


http://www.newsweek.com/veteran-service-dog-program-kicked-out-its-offices-without-warning-707608

Warrior Canine Connection performs two services: In addition to providing service dogs for veterans who suffer from disabilities, it also arranges for those dogs to be trained by warriors who suffer from PTSD. This way both parts of the process can ultimately help the men and women who risk their lives protecting America.
"What we find is that through learning how to train these dogs, we’re actually able to experientially retrain them from going reactive to patient, to go from emotionally numb to emotive. The key to this is that it’s experiential. You don’t learn patience from reading in a book, you learn patience from practicing it," Yount told WTTG-TV.

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/10/se...ans-mysteriously-evicted-from-military-bases/



Walter Reed spokesperson Sandy Dean told News4 Thursday the military hospital effectively canceled its contract with Warrior Canine Connection.
"We issued a stop work order to the prime contractor so that we could restructure the contract to enhance oversight of patient care," Dean said Thursday evening.


Dean said the contract did not provide Walter Reed enough oversight over the program. As a result, Walter Reed will restructure its Canine Assisted Therapy program, according to Dean. The government contract will then go out to bid.

"Legally we are not permitted to discuss contract matters with subcontractors. That responsibility rests with the prime contractor," Dean said. Dean said the prime contractor is MD Consulting.

The program has touched 4,000 service members and veterans, Yount told News4 in April.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/nat...am-Because-of-Oversight-Issues-456530813.html

Who hates golden retriever puppies ?


After a letter to Warrior Canine Connection notified the organization of concerns over the health and well-being of the service dogs, a veterinarian not affiliated with the group conducted a site check and evaluated the dogs. Her findings: “My overall impression while working with Warrior Canine Connection is that their dogs are well cared for.”


The veterinarian, Dr. Claire Porter, went to Warrior Canine Connection’s Boyds, Maryland, facility on April 26, within weeks of the April 3 letter of concern from a contract officer at the Defense Health Agency. That letter outlined concerns based on several complaints about dogs with “loose bowels” allowed to visit the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Porter’s letter described the facilities at Warrior Canine Connection as “clean, organized and odor-free.” She wrote that the 14 dogs housed at the facility during her visit were in secure pens labeled with the dogs’ names and collar identification.

“Each dog had plenty of space to move around within their pen,” Potter wrote. “The dogs were calm and bright when I came in.”


https://wtop.com/local/2017/11/16542896/slide/1/


Friday, the prime contractor for Warrior Canine Connection, MD Consulting of Waldorf, told WTOP that the suspension of the contract was not related to the issues raised in the “letter of concern,” but that Walter Reed’s medical director indicated the facility wanted to “move in a different direction” regarding canine-assisted therapy at the facility.

The New (not great) Snopes said-

Headlines say that Trump did it, but there is no direct proof that the statement is accurate.

https://first.thepoliticalvoice.com...am-leaving-vets-high-and-dry-on-veterans-day/


https://www.snopes.com/trump-dogs-veterans-day/
 
Whoever is in charge at Walter Reed ought to have set up a replacement program before canceling the existing one. I guess they never heard of "replace, then repeal."
 
Whoever is in charge at Walter Reed ought to have set up a replacement program before canceling the existing one. I guess they never heard of "replace, then repeal."

I guess you really didn't bother to read:

The Warrior Canine Connection has indeed vacated its offices at Walter Reed and the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital after the medical center sent a stop-work order to MD Consulting, the primary contractor for the WCC. The order was sent on Oct. 27. That means that the order was issued two weeks before Veterans Day, not on Veterans Day, as the false headline suggests.

Walter Reed has an internal service dog program that is still in effect.

WCC, which is based in Boyds, Maryland, will continue to work with a Veterans Affairs’ medical center in Menlo Park, California, Rick Yount, the Warrior Canine Connection executive director, told FactCheck.org.

Sources

Dean, Sandy, spokeswoman, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Interview with FactCheck.org. 14 Nov 2017.

“Trump Abruptly Shuts Down Dogs for Wounded Warriors Program, Leaving Vets High and Dry on Veteran’s Day!” Thepoliticalvoice.com. 11 Nov 2017.

Warrior Canine Connection. Form 990. 16 Nov 2016.

Yount, Rick. “Warrior Canine Connection.” Written Testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Veteran’s Affairs Subcommittee on Health. 14 Jul 2015.

Ryan, Kate. “Letter details complaints with program that pairs service dogs with vets.” WTOP.com. 11 Nov 2017.

Porter, Claire. Report on the facilities at the Warrior Canine Connection. 26 Apr 2017.

Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. “Is Training Service Dogs a Potential PTSD Therapy?” 26 Jun 2015.
 
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