Schumer: Help veterans with service dogs

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the federal Department of Veterans Affairs Thursday to make financial assistance available to disabled veterans with service dogs.

Prompting the letter from Schumer and seven other U.S. senators was the slow progress in implementing laws intended to help such veterans, despite a critical audit by the department's inspector general last July.

Congress passed a law in 2002 directing the VA to help veterans with hearing and mobility problems afford a service dog. But the audit said that the VA did not begin making the assistance available until 2008. Even then, many VA medical staffers did not know about the aid, and only eight veterans received it in 2009.

The funds cover costs such as veterinary care and any special equipment that's needed. Visually impaired veterans with guide dogs have been able to receive aid since 1961.

In addition, the audit found that the VA has yet to begin providing service dogs to help veterans with such mental illnesses as post-traumatic stress syndrome, despite a 2009 law directing the agency to do so.

Representatives of Veterans Affairs did not return calls or emails Thursday. The department told auditors it will issue a directive telling staff that the financial aid is available. The department said it is still studying the value of service dogs to veterans with mental illnesses.

Saying "much remains to be done," the senators asked the VA for a progress report. They wrote, "Whether it be helping a wounded veteran turn on a light, bringing a ringing telephone to the veteran's wheelchair or calming an incipient panic attack, everyday tasks that seem impossible can become achievable with a service dog."

Wells Jones, chief executive of Smithtown's America's VetDogs, a nonprofit that trains and makes service dogs available to disabled veterans at no cost, said the demand has been increasing. He said there is a current list of 200 veterans waiting for dogs.