New fourlegged friend

From rescue to rescuer: GPD comfort K9 trains to keep minds at ease

By Pat Gruner

Training is underway for a new asset to the Greenville learning to follow orders and copious physical activity. He might not even be 1 year old yet, but Chase, the department’s Comfort K9 to be, is on the case.

Drake Parker and Angela Parker, the husband and wife team at Top Dog Academy on Ligstrum Trail, are coaching the roughly 9-month-old golden retriever pup in obedience as Chase gears up to be a therapy dog for the department. Duties will entail being a soothing presence for victims,

“There’s no better way to bridge a gap, especially for kids,” said Drake, an Army and National Guard veteran who has been training dogs for 25 years. He said Top Dog is teaching Chase free of charge out of respect for law enforcement.

Right now, Chase is still a puppy. He gets excited when his handler Kristen Hunter, the police department’s public hello. But Drake said that he is developing well, and that

At Top Dog, that includes learning commands like sit he was discovered by Greenville Animal Protective Service passing vehicles and turned him over to the Pitt County

Drake said, because it provides mental tools for them to self-soothe and remain calm in places that could spark excitement. Those skills will serve Chase well during his Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog tests, the latter of which presents animals with various stimuli as they go about tasks to gauge their demeanor.

Somehow, no one came to claim the puppy. For Hunter, who has spent many years and a few police chiefs advocating for a department therapy dog, it was kismet.

“When a 4-month-old golden retriever just happened to turn up, it was very hard to resist that,” Hunter said. “I always wanted it to be a rescue dog. I’m very passionate about rescue animals. All of my pets over the years have been rescue dogs, so the fact we were able to rescue him and then he in turn will be rescuing others during their times of trauma, I think that just adds a nice touch to it.”

A poll was sent out on social media chance to pick from the three names that received the most votes. A lot of of the cartoon Paw Patrol, which features a German Shepard police puppy named Chase. The kid caucus won out.

Hunter said Chase’s main focus is going to be on employee wellness.

“Its been a rough couple years for around a dog can reduce anxiety, reduce your heart rate, increase your oxytocin and endorphins. Being around a dog can turn a bad day into a good one.” perfect breed for the job due to its temperament and familial nature.

Chase is a golden retriever, a breed whose temperament and familial nature make it a great therapy dog, said trainer Drake Parker. Duties will include being a soothing presence for victims, witnesses and officers as they deal with traumatic events.

Hunter said that she’ll be lucky to have Chase too. Her job entails interacting with media and hearing details about murders, assaults and other violent crimes. He currently lives with her when he’s not training at Top Dog and has struck up a rapport with Hunter’s dog, Nash, and her family.

The public is excited to see Chase but Hunter wants to keep expectations measured. There is no set timeline for making appearances at events. Most few, if any, had Chase’s upbringing to deal with. Angela Parker said that’s what makes him special.

“It’s easy to pick the perfect puppy to make a therapy dog,” Angela said. tougher background, especially in how he was found and where he was found.

“He’s going to make a perfect therapy dog and I love it because he didn’t have a perfect start.”

Chase is already getting chances to prove that as part of his exposure training. Hunter said she was contacted by to have Chase visit and raise its employees’ spirits after a particularly grueling stretch.

“They serve 30 counties in North Carolina and have said. “It’s very tough to unsee some of that.

“I took Chase to the morgue and he met all of the nice never seen all of their employees that happy in a very long time.” dog, makes rounds at the courthouse and at public events. never got around to pursuing. Other times, it means taking up something completely foreign to them, like mahjong, a tile-based game developed in China that is similar to the card game rummy.

Alison Johnson was not sure what to expect when she didn’t sound like a very exciting place for the 69-year-old, who had recently retired.

“I thought senior center, they’re probably going to be a lot of older people,” she said. “I don’t want to feel like I’m old. I want to be able to still feel young and do things.”

But what she found was people who share her interests, ever since, although she still doesn’t like the word “aging” in the name.

“It shouldn’t say that because it makes people think old,” she said. “Becoming a senior and becoming retired is not bad. It’s a lot of fun.”

Zeck hopes the emphasis on wellness — physical, social and emotional — will continue to attract people.

“People hate to admit that they’re aging, but we’re all doing it,” he said. “Who says just because we’re getting older we can’t have fun? For me that’s what this place is about, people coming having a good time, feeling like their lives matter. There’s value here.” to return to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

Pitt County Council on Aging operates six senior wellness centers throughout Pitt County. For more information about programming and services, visit www.pittcoa.com.

Baise and her family eventually moved to Tennessee to working in the hospital, including a stint in cardiovascular care in emergency medicine.

Baise said it was in Tennessee that she fell in love with rural health care in a system that served northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

“Interestingly enough it was a 29-county region. It’s funny to come to another 29-county region with a rural footprint with similar challenges,” she said. “Not a lot of growth in terms of the population, a lack of Medicaid expansion … but I loved, loved my time serving in that community for 11 years.” It was during this time she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees.

Baise said she became a nurse instead of a doctor families.

“Doctors oversee the care but nurses deliver it,” she said. “For me it was being much more connected to the patient and being about to have that opportunity to be there at the darkest times, the best times and shepherd patients and family members. Your time with the patients tends to be longer, that’s what resonated with me, it’s very hands-on.” multitude of options.

“There are almost no boundaries in nursing. You can do so many things whether it’s leadership or clinical care or other things that support patient care,” Baise said. “That’s what resonated with me. You can continue to evolve … and there are very few boundaries.”

Baise served as CEO of Franklin Woods Community Hospital and Woodridge Hospital as well as CEO at the system-level of the behavioral health division of Ballad Health with operations across two states. She joined ECU Health from Atrium Health Cabarrus.