The WHFD's New Canine Partner Lola Is The Comforter To The Comforters

WEST HARTFORD, CT — When your job is to provide comfort and care to people on what is often the worst day of their lives, the cumulative emotional toll can be overwhelming.

For firefighters, it begs the question, who comforts the comforters?

In West Hartford, the West Hartford Fire Department's top comforter is Lola, a happy, 3-year-old Labrador retriever who arrived this week to join West Hartford Firefighters Local 1241's "Peer Support Team."

This team within a team is a group of fire personnel whose role is to assist firefighters struggling with their job, especially after repeatedly encountering, in the words of the firefighters union, "graphic, hopeless and dangerous situations."

Lola's official job title might be "therapy dog," but her job with the WHFD is to just showcase that loving quality encrypted in canines' DNA, the characteristic that has historically binded man with dog for centuries.

On Saturday, March 18, Lola will officially be welcomed to the WHFD at 10 a.m. at Station 2, 20 Brace Road, West Hartford. The public is invited to visit and meet Lola.

As a therapy dog, Lola's work will involve spending time with firefighters in general, especially after a particularly traumatic incident.

The department has had plenty of those lately, such as last December when five people lost their lives in multiple traffic accidents, some involving pedestrians, in the leadup to Christmas.

According to the WHFD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is three times higher for firefighters than the rest of the population.

"Firefighters and firefighter/paramedics may see more traumatic events in a single day than some individuals will witness in an entire lifetime," wrote the WHFD and West Hartford Firefighters Association in a statement.

"At the same time, there is a growing understanding that PTSD can result from accumulated stressors, as well as single events."

This is where Lola comes in and she's not just a mascot.

Rather, Lola is a trained therapy dog who came to the WHFD from "K-9's For Warriors," a Florida-based organization that takes rescue dogs and trains them for therapy dog duties for veterans and responders.

Here, the rescued rescue the rescuers.

Helping out locally is Pet Supplies Plus and VCA Veterinary Specialists of CT in West Hartford, which are helping to provide food and veterinary care for Lola.

Lola's partner is WHFD firefighter/paramedic Matt Hebert, also a Peer Support Team member.

Members of West Hartford's bravest said Lola's arrival to the team stands to have an immediate and beneficial impact, one that helps firefighters and, in turn, the public.

“Of equal importance to protecting our citizens is assisting our own members, especially from the stressors that this occupation can place on them," said WHFD Chief Greg Priest. "The department is very pleased and proud to have supported the union’s efforts to obtain Lola.

"The concept of therapy dogs is still visionary and it’s outstanding that the union had the foresight to look for proactive measures to offer support to their members, especially before a problem might arise. She will be an important asset to the cache of options and services available for firefighters.”

Firefighters said Lola will help firefighters emotionally overcome not only the stressors of the job, but the stigmas that, sometimes, need to be overcome en route to recovery.

“There’s a culture of heroism, bravery, and selflessness in the fire service. It’s inherent in the work we do, but it can sometimes create a stigma that discourages firefighters from showing weakness, asking for help or admitting they might have a problem," said Sean Howard, a West Hartford firefighter and Local 1241 vice president in a statement.

"It’s hard to overstate the benefits of stress reduction or of just how disarming a therapy dog like Lola can be in getting members to open up about issues they might be having.”

The WHFD said while Lola is primarily for West Hartford fire personnel and related town events, she may be available to respond mutual aid to emergency/traumatic events in other locations by contacting Local 1241 at president@iaff1241.org or 860-982-8338.