Ormond Beach resident's nonprofit trains service dogs for veterans with PTSD

Ormond Beach Observer
News

After serving for eight years as an Army lieutenant, Ormond Beach resident Elisha Perkins struggled to return to civilian life.

But a service dog made all the difference, and now Perkins helps other veterans get canine assistants, too.

Perkins said there is no transition period after leaving the military: One day you're in the Army. The next day, you're not.

Before she got her service dog, Tobey, almost four years ago, Perkins was starting to "close the door on society," she said.

"But at the same time, my wife wanted to adopt a child," Perkins said. "And I knew that I needed to find a way outside that door. If not, I was going to be watching my family live their life."

Experiencing how a canine improved her life inspired her to found Pop Smoke K9 for Veterans in January.

The nonprofit provides service dogs to veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries or a history of military sexual trauma.

The dogs help prevent veteran and first responder suicide by easing the transition to civilian life.

Veterans who enroll in Pop Smoke's programs receive a dog and complete service dog training with their canine, according to a press release.

Training a new service dog can cost upward of $25,000. Pop Smoke offers these programs for veterans for free.

Veterans, if approved, can also bring their own dogs for training.

Perkins is the lead trainer.

"Service dogs help veterans live a more productive life and be a part of society," Perkins said. "Then there's the fellowship part, where a lot of veterans just really feel more comfortable speaking with other veterans."

If Pop Smoke can be that place for veterans, she said, the nonprofit is fulfilling its mission.

'We speak the same language'

The group of veterans Pop Smoke serves is small.

Seven dogs are going through training now, including the newest addition: a puppy named Smoke who will become the brand ambassador, Perkins said.

The nonprofit's name comes from the military expression "pop smoke," which refers to throwing a smoke grenade to provide cover or signal that you need air extract.

Most of the veterans Pop Smoke aids served in the Army.

Then there's first responder Jill Dempsey and her seeing-eye guide dog Enoch, who is also training to become Dempsey's medical alert dog.

Thirty-five years ago, Dempsey worked as a 911 dispatcher for the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Her medical needs have kept her from working for the last 35 years. But with Enoch's help, Dempsey, of Palm Coast, is now a Citizen Observer Patrol dispatcher for the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.

"Because of my service dog, I am now able to leave the house again and ... be productive and do the things that I want to do," Dempsey said. "I needed a dog specially trained for me."

Army veteran Paul Lewis has an emotional support dog in training.

"He usually knows when my anxiety is coming up," Lewis said. "He'll just come up to me ... put his head in my lap, help me stay calm. Sometimes I don't know when it's coming."

Service dogs can also retrieve veterans' medications, help with memory-related tasks and turn on lights when veterans have night terrors from PTSD, according to the press release.

For Ormond Beach resident Paul Procto, speaking at Pop Smoke with other veterans brings relief, he said.

"When you're around people that haven't been there, haven't done that, it's a whole different conversation," he said. "It's like they don't understand. ... We speak the same language — small community. But then all of us, being in the Army, or Air Force, or Navy or Marines, Coast Guard, whatever — it's a whole other world."

Procto and Perkins are neighbors, so Proctor has been part of Pop Smoke from the start.

A safe space

Seven of every 100 veterans will have PTSD at some point in their life, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In a 2022 report, Veterans Affairs reported that the 2020 veteran suicide rate was 57.3% higher than the 2020 civilian suicide rate.

By the numbers

In 2020, there were 6,146 veteran suicide deaths — 343 fewer than in 2019.
From 2018 to 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates for veterans fell by 9.7%.
In 2020, suicide was the 13th leading cause of death among veterans. It was the second leading cause of death among veterans under age 45.
Suicide rates after separation from the military ranged from 34.8 per 100,000 (for veterans who separated in 2010) to 47.8 per 100,000 (for veterans who separated in 2019).
For veterans who separated from active military service in 2019, suicide rates over the following 12 months were highest among former Marines (58.3 per 100,000), followed by Army (52.7 per 100,000) and then Navy (34.4 per 100,000)

Source: U.S Department of Veterans Affairs' 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report

More than 6,000 veterans commit suicide each year, and those who have a traumatic brain injury are nearly twice as likely to die by suicide.

Part of the reason so many veterans die by suicide, Palm Coast resident Trudy Manen said, is that they lack support while transitioning to civilian life.

"They don't have a transition," she said. "They don't have a place where they can talk to each other."

Her husband, Ed Manen, was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. He now has Parkinson's disease.

His service dog, Molly, acts as a retriever for him: She brings him items he needs and opens automatic handicap doors, Trudy Manen said.

Pop Smoke is helping with Molly's training. If you're a veteran in need, Pop Smoke is a safe place, Trudy Manen added.

Pop Smoke is about more than just providing a service dog, Perkins said.

"In a world that we don't exactly trust anymore, and we don't feel safe, to have just a little nugget inside that world, makes things a lot easier," Perkins said.

To learn more, visit popsmokek9forveterans.org.