POWERGRAMS

44 HAPPY TRAILS Some say the world has gone to the dogs. Not Steve Bedsole. He thinks the opposite. He and his German short-haired pointer, Charlie, bring relief and comfort to a world filled with emotional pain and difficulty. The man-dog team works with HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response. This national all-volunteer organization dispatches trained owners and their dogs to provide encouragement and comfort to survivors and first-responders in the wake of traumatic events and natural disasters. He and Charlie will be busier than ever now that Bedsole has retired from his job as a senior training analyst developing training and testing programs for the General Shops at the General Services Complex in Calera. Bedsole, with wife, Janet, is also involved with Hand in Paw, a group of more than 150 volunteers and their dogs providing animal-assisted activities and therapy to people in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and rehabilitation facilities. "This is a very rewarding way of supporting our community and others in need," Bedsole said. "There is nothing like the unconditional love of a dog to break barriers and li spirits." Bedsole and Charlie were doing exactly that in the Florida Keys last year. They were assigned to visit and mingle with survivors and first-responders working the aermath of Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm that leveled much of the Keys in September. He and Charlie made the rounds at emergency operation control centers; makeshi camps for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross; police and fire stations; military encampments; and emergency housing camps from Marathon to Key West. Bedsole could tell they were moving the needle aer encountering a sheriff at the FEMA base. "He said having lost the lower floor of his house and all appliances, how much he appreciated being able to bring his family in to eat dinner and visit with the dogs to give them some sense of normalcy and routine," Bedsole said. "These officers were still working and serving while being survivors just as hard-hit as anyone else there." Bedsole has special insight into what that means. "I was a firefighter and paramedic before my career with Southern Company, and from that I knew, first-responders were oen overlooked when crisis support was offered," he said. "HOPE makes a point to support first-responders to ensure they and their families are comforted, too." Studies have shown that peing animals in stressful situations reduces high blood pressure, anxiety and harmful hormones, while releasing helpful endorphins in the brain, which can help prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). "In general, the visit lets them know someone cares enough about them to spend a lile time and say thank you," Bedsole said. "It breaks the mood, lis spirits and allows workers and survivors an opportunity to see something positive – even for a few minutes." That's what the two accomplished in the Keys as part of a HOPE crisis response team. "Everywhere we went, we were referred to other agencies, camps and offices. We had more requests than we could reach. I was proud we supported as many first-responders as storm survivors." Bedsole credits Janet for geing them introduced to animal-assisted outreach. "She came up with the idea from a neighbor who was involved with Hand in Paw. We Bedsole's dog, Charlie, provides comfort to many people.

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