Delta Society Beyond Limits Awards - Karla Rose & Tuffy

DR. KARLA ROSE of Sudbury, MA and her Pet Partner, Tuffy, a 3-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, are one of five finalist teams for the Delta Society's 2007 Beyond Limits Award as Pet Partners Team of the Year. They are no strangers to national and international recognition. Tuffy is the only certified canine in the Massachusetts Critical Incident Stress Management Services deployable by the state coordinator to local, state and national trauma. Karla and Tuffy have trained extensively with officers and chiefs of the Boston, Cambridge and Worcester Police and Fire Departments in crisis management and line-of-duty trauma or death. They responded to two suicides and a murder in Massachusetts high schools; shortly after, they were deployed to the Virginia Tech tragedy. Their work as a Delta Society team with cancer patients at a major medical center has been widely covered as a unique story when, shortly after adopting Tuffy, Dr. Rose was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Lahey Clinic allowed Tuffy to accompany her to treatment, and Tuffy's presence delighted all patients at the clinic facing the challenge of cancer. In Karla's words, the universal theme in Tuffy's work: "a compassionate presence serving as a critical bridge amidst the worried, the grieving, the shocked or the despondent." To vote for any of the five finalists, log on to www.deltasociety.org before November 5. Videos of all five finalists (Sarah Allen, Maggie Crawford, Connie Gates, Monica Payson, Karla Rose) can be viewed on YouTube.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Delta
• therapy dog
• poodle
• bullmastiff
• golden
• retriever
• cavalier
• gates
• allen
• payson
• crawford
• rose