More than 30% of first responders (police, fire, EMT, dispatch) suffer from mental health-related disorders due to the high-intensity and traumatic nature of the situations they often respond to.
Anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts are common within department ranks, and often, resources to overcome or at least help manage their mental health are limited or unavailable.
Our Milwaukeean of the Week, Matthew Haerter, is trying to change that – one paw at a time.
From a young age, Matt was interested in public safety; “my grandpa was an early inspiration. He was a volunteer firefighter and police officer in Columbus, Wisconsin,” while his father held a career in the Air Force.
At 16, Matt joined an exploratory program, and at 18, he became an EMT. During his junior year of college at Rockford University, he joined the Kenosha Fire Department, where he would stay for another 24 years.
As he progressed through department ranks, he also pursued higher education in an effort to not only differentiate himself in the promotional process but to accumulate a mass of public safety knowledge that would not only serve him but also his department, colleagues, and civilians.
He finished his Bachelor’s in 2004 (Public Administration), got his Master’s in 2012 (Public Safety Organizational Leadership), and then ended up going back to get his Associate’s degree in Fire Science.
Over the years, Matt slowly began to realize the need for mental health support when it came to public safety professionals. There are many programs in place for military personnel, but there is a gap in programs designed around the unique experiences of first responders.
That’s where K9 Tesla came in.
Matt started training with his own dog, Tesla, to try and address the lack of attention to mental health issues within public safety positions. It started out slow with support primarily in Kenosha – but once he got her trained and he moved to the Lake Country area (Rome, Wisconsin), they were excited to have a program ready to be started.
He found some guidance from programs on the West Coast, but at the beginning, building out the therapy dog program and training Tesla wasn’t easy: “There are not a lot of programs within sworn departments – it was mostly just visitors going into stations with dogs.”
Matt and Tesla were constantly training and responding to after-hours calls, going to as many departments, stations, and community events as possible – and even coordinating home visits and hospital visits with children.
Tesla acted as a bridge to the community to promote learning, connection, and conversation around both the program itself and the mental health challenges of first responders.
“It’s been a journey. It was always my goal to start this up, but the plan was to do this while Tes was still alive, so we could start training another dog who could learn from her.”
Sadly, this spring, Tesla passed away. Her loss hit Matt hard, so putting his head down to build out the K9 Tesla Foundation, which he knew would go on to help thousands, helped him grieve.
It was a long, tough progress. Starting in April, Matt worked with an attorney to officially make the K9 Tesla Foundation a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. He was granted the title just two weeks ago.
“The barriers with it were time and money associated with establishing the foundation and making sure we did it right.”
Now, he’s on a mission to get the program off the ground. Applications are open for departments interested in a therapy dog program, while Matt’s working to bootstrap the financial side of the organization.
“Agencies don’t really have the funding to do this themselves, so the K9 Tesla Foundation provides the resources. We want to be the whole package. We want to be able to provide the dog, but also give the tools to train or go through the dog program.”
But the level of funding is their limitation. The success of their program is dependent on the support of individuals, companies, and corporations. The more financial support they receive, the more they can do for the first responder community.
Training, certifications, veterinarian support, and all the other costs add up along the way. “As a rough estimate of general costs for trained dogs walking up to a fire department ready to work, it’s $20,000.”
Dogs in the program have to be at least a year old to be certified. And, it’s not only training the dog they have to consider. Finding volunteers and handlers to help support the training is a challenge too.
When asked if there’s anything else Matt would like people to know about the K9 Tesla Foundation and its mission, he said:
“We have the connections to train dogs and get them, but it takes time and money. Our board is all volunteer. The most important part is just people getting involved and sharing the mission. Statewide volunteerism is down more than it’s ever been. From PTAs to volunteer fire departments, to American Legion, to the VFW, volunteers aren’t as common, and it adds up. There are a lot of things that happen in communities, and it doesn’t get done unless people are willing to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. There are a lot of really good, well-meaning people who live in our state and I just hope that everyone is willing to do something within their skillset to help the area they live in.
If you believe in our mission we’d be honored to have you a part of it.”
For more information on the K9 Tesla Foundation, visit k9tesla.com.
To donate, click here.