TGH airlift program for K-9s
Original reporting by Emma Brisk
When a K-9 officer is hurt in the line of duty, they will now receive the same care as their human partners.
Tampa General Hospital’s aeromed team usually uses its trauma care helicopters for humans.
Now, thanks to the help of aero med flight nurses and local vets, police dogs will receive the care as their human partners.
“We call them fuzzy toddlers, so a lot of the stuff mimics children, the only difference is that they bite,” said TGH Flight Nurse Donny Richardson.
Richardson says there is a state statute that allows this care for K-9 officers.
SB 388 allows emergency service transportation to take injured police K-9s to vet clinics as long as no person requires medical attention or transport.
“Why should we not provide them the same care that a law enforcement officer of the two-legged version gets? And who doesn’t love canines?,” said Richardson.
Richardson leads training courses with the aero med team, using specialty kits and “Hero”, a medical simulator dog that breathes, bleeds and has a heartbeat to teach flight nurses how to care for the K-9 heroes in the air.
They are then flown to a partnering vet, like Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County, where the program began.
As Richardson was researching pre-hospital care for K-9s, he found the military has a similar program and enlisted the help of Dr. Devon Diaz with the Veterinary Medical Center at Lakewood Ranch to create a similar K-9 care program.
“Our goal is not to turn these medics and flight nurses into veterinarians or veterinary technicians. We’re truly using a translational approach to these expert skills they have already in their arsenal,” said Critical Care Specialist Devon Diaz.
Matthew Binkley with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office says the partnership will cut down crucial time needed to save a K-9 officer’s life, especially with traffic.
“In years past we’ve had an incident where the stomach turned on one of our canines and we used the back of our patrol vehicle to transport,” said Binkley.
TGH is the first in the state and fourth in the nation to offer pre-hospital emergency care to wounded K-9s.
The TGH Foundation provided funding to purchase two K-9 simulators, each costing about $30,000.
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