(instrumental music) - Coming up next on this Veteran's Day edition of Arizona Horizon.

Valley Parents who lost a son to suicide work to end the epidemic of suicide in the Armed Forces and Veteran communities.

Also, tonight, a new program pairs veterans living with PTSD, with service dogs rescued from local shelters.

And a support group uses making of dog leashes as a way to create a sense of community for caregivers to Veterans.

It's all ahead on this special edition of Arizona Horizon.

- This hour of local news is made possible by contributions from the friends of PBS; members of your PBS station.

Thank you.

- Good evening and welcome to this special Veteran's Day edition of Arizona Horizon.

I'm Ted Simons.

We begin tonight with a story of the Caserta family.

Patrick and Teri Caserta have devoted their lives to improving mental health services for those in the Armed Forces and Veteran communities.

They're working to keep what happened to their son from happening to others in the military.

To that end, the Casertas pioneer The Brandon Act, which protects service members from stigma and retaliation.

The Casertas have also established a scholarship for students at ASU College of Health Solutions.

We spoke to Teri Caserta, founder and CEO of The Brandon Caserta Foundation, and Patrick Caserta, the Foundation's CFO.

Thank you so much for joining us and sharing what is, I'm sure, still and will always be, a very difficult story.

And we'll start with that story right off the bat.

Brandon Caserta, talk about your son.

- He was amazing.

He loved helping people.

He helped people from when he was really little.

He didn't matter, you know, nothing mattered to Brandon.

Whether they had special needs, you know, people of color.

He didn't care.

He just wanted to help everybody.

- [Ted] And - [Teri] And that's what he did.

- [Ted] Yeah, he did.

And he joined the Navy.

And what happened there?

- [Patrick] Well, he unfortunately ended up in a command, ultimately, that was a toxic, abusive command.

And they abused him in every way you can think of, and many after that; that we didn't even know how bad it was.

We found out afterwards.

Unfortunately, he felt he had to take his own life to draw attention to it.

That is what he did too.

He wanted attention.

He left us a letter and in his letter he asked us to fix some of the things that happened to him.

And we did that.

And we felt his legacy was, indeed saving lives and wanting to save lives.

And that's what we do.

Save service members' lives.

- Yeah, indeed.

Talk about how you did respond to his request.

To what happened to him.

Had to be difficult, again, but you got a lot done so far.

- We have.

He's been gone nearly five years and it took nearly four years to get The Brandon Act passed.

And The Brandon Act is a way for service members to get the mental health help that they need without going through their chain of command and without retaliation.

It took way longer than we ever thought it would.

Something that could save lives.

You would think everybody would be on it.

- [Ted] Why did it take so long?

- That's a good question.

We've had.

Department of Defense told us it was because we included all of the military personnel, including the Guard, the National Guard, and the Reservist, and they couldn't figure out how to implement The Brandon Act for the National Guard and Reservist.

So, it is in one part.

It is active duty right now.

- Okay.

But, again, the idea that there shouldn't be retribution, there shouldn't be retaliation, there shouldn't be stigma bullying.

That doesn't seem like that would be such a hard get.

I mean, why was this so difficult?

- You know, we thought that too, when we went to Capitol Hill.

We just bought a new car and just stormed Capitol Hill, literally.

We thought the whole building would be behind us.

Unfortunately it wasn't that way.

It's, you know, what the military wants.

What DoD wants.

And, if they don't think of it, sometimes they don't like it.

If people will work for them, don't think of it, they don't like it.

But, we thought it was a no-brainer.

We really believed that it was gonna be easy.

And it turned into a long process.

The good part, I can tell you, in the end, Congress came through.

They did.

They really did.

And when DoD didn't implement it immediately, I mean, Senator Kelly, Senator Kane, I mean they were all over them.

We watched interviews and you'd believe the stuff they said.

It was really firm.

- Good, good.

That's encouraging to hear.

Okay.

The Brandon Act?

Got it done.

Lot of work.

Got it done.

I hope not nearly as much work setting up this scholarship at ASU at the College of Health Solutions.

Talk to us about that.

- No, that was pretty easy.

We had someone from ASU told us that, you know, that's something we could do to honor Brandon as well.

Patrick and I, we didn't even think about something like that.

So we discussed it and we're like, absolutely.

Patrick graduated from Arizona State University.

So.

It was a no brainer for us.

- [Ted] Yeah.

Yeah.

Again, College of Health Solutions and another way to honor your son and another way to honor the legacy of your son.

How important is that to you?

- [Patrick] Very.

It's what we focused on after he died, to make his, like I said, his legacy mean something and to help others.

I loved it when I went to ASU.

I always wanted to give back and do things.

And his legacy; saving lives, that is, unfortunately, when he died.

We inherited his legacy as saving lives, but helping others get educated through ASU, like I had the opportunity, it's just feels right and there's nothing like giving back like that.

- I was gonna say, yeah.

That has to be a rewarding aspect of a tragic story.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Well congratulations to both of you for the hard work that you've done.

I mean, again, has to be difficult, but you've done amazing work.

Just getting The Brandon Act passed sounded like it was just like pulling teeth, but you got it done and now we got the scholarship at the ASU College of Health Solutions.

I think Brandon's pretty proud of you both.

Thank you both for joining us.

- Thank you.

We appreciate that.

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- Soldier's Best Friend is a program that pairs veterans struggling with PTSD and traumatic brain injury with rescue dogs.

The veterans and the dogs trained together to build a strong relationship and improve the lives of all concerned.

We learned more about this program from Mik Milem, the executive director of Soldier's Best Friend and US Army veteran Robert "Tiny" Hogan.

Tiny's service dog Mabel, she also joined us for the interview.

Gentlemen.

Mabel.

Good to have y'all here.

Thank you for joining us.

- Thank you for having us.

You bet.

Mik, we'll start with you.

Gimme a better definition of Soldier's Best Friend.

- Yeah.

What we do is we help U.S. military veterans, as you said, that are living with PTSD or a traumatic brain injury, by pairing them up with a dog, most of whom have been rescued from a local shelter right here in Arizona.

They train together for six to nine months until that dog becomes qualified to be a service dog.

- [Ted] How are veterans selected for the program?

- Yeah, so they can make application and what they really, all they need to do is complete the application and have a confirmation of diagnosis from their therapist.

- [Ted] So you have to apply?

- Yes.

You must apply.

- Okay.

The dogs aren't applying for anything but they are selected.

What do you look for in the dogs?

- Yeah so we're looking for a dog that has a nice calm temperament and has a desire to work.

And so that's what we're looking for in those dogs.

- [Ted] And they're chosen either as service or companion dog?

Is there a difference between the two?

- Well, there is.

We're looking for a dog that's the same for either one, but there is a difference for what they can do publicly.

So a therapeutic companion dog is there to help that veteran, mostly when they're in the home.

A service dog is permitted to go everywhere in public that a person can go.

- Alright, Tiny, we'll talk to you next.

- [Tiny] Alright.

- Is Mabel a service dog or a companion dog?

- [Tiny] Mabel is a service dog.

- Okay.

How'd you two hook up here?

- Mabel came from the pound from the Maricopa shelter.

I got her December 10th was a year, so about a year and a half ago.

And Soldier's Best Friend did the full eval on her, and, 'cause they do hip x-rays, complete medical to make sure that they're healthy enough to go through the program.

- [Tiny] And gonna give us a decent amount of time and service.

- [Ted] How much of a say do you have, and how much of a say do vets have, in picking the dog?

- Well, you gotta be matched with the right dog.

- Right.

- The right temperament.

Right personality.

- [Mik] I always say this, the dog chooses the veteran.

- Yeah.

- [Mik] Yeah, so we do a meet and greet and that dog always chooses the veteran.

- [Ted] I was gonna say Tiny, when you two first met?

- [Tiny] It was immediate connection.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- [Tiny] I knew it.

- [Ted] She was there?

- She was there.

We just immediately connected.

It was like, yeah.

- [Ted] She's a great dog.

I mean this dog is just a wonderful dog.

The training involved?

What'd you go through?

- [Tiny] Well, I trained for about six months.

It took me one; we are still training with advanced training now.

But to do all the tasks, she is task trained on multiple tasks.

But we worked with a trainer twice a week for about an hour, hour and 15 minutes.

And then the other five days, Mabel and I worked.

You keep a log.

And I worked a minimum of about an hour and a half to two hours every day with her.

- [Ted] It's work, isn't it?

- [Tiny] Yeah.

- [Ted] I mean you gotta put in the effort, don't you?

- [Tiny] It is.

It's a lot of effort to get that connection that you have.

- Yeah.

Is that as far as vets, again choosing; I mean do you ever have a vet saying, I want that dog, but you know that's not the right dog?

- We've definitely had that happen and usually what takes place is that about a month down the road that veteran will come back and say, this dog's not working out.

- [Ted] Yeah.

Yeah.

But not too often, right?

- Not too often, no.

Most of the time we get a good fit and we're able to get that veteran and that dog together.

- And we should mention this, obviously, and Tiny you can talk about how much of a help she is to you in all sorts of ways.

- Oh, it's amazing.

I mean, it gets me outta the house now.

I mean, I'd never been to a mall in Arizona and I've been here almost 17 years until I had to go there to train her.

'Cause they forced us to go to the Arrowhead Mall.

Like Home Depot and stuff I go to.

But you know.

But the malls and stuff.

- Having her around helps you.

- Oh yeah.

It gives me, it allows me to get out.

It makes it more comfortable 'cause you know, anxiety and not having somebody to watch you, - Uh oh - She knows my anxiety's really high right now.

- Yes.

- Not having somebody to watch your back?

Its what she does.

Nobody can sneak up on me.

You know, I don't need her to be aggressive.

I just need to know that somebody's watching out and when somebody comes around, she lets me know that they're moving in on me.

- It's interesting.

That's really interesting.

That's the kind of thing that they're trained to do.

To protect without being guarding, snapping dogs.

- Absolutely.

So yeah, a service dog should not have any aggression to it, whatsoever.

To any people or to any other dog.

But they are trained with tasks to be their battle buddy for the veteran.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- To be their six.

- How long has this organization been around?

- Since 2011.

And we've had 362 graduates from the program and rescued over 200 dogs from local shelters.

- [Ted] And we've talked a lot about, you know, the impact on the vets and that's obviously very important.

The impact on the dogs.

I mean, you are rescuing dogs here.

- [Tiny] Absolutely.

Giving 'em a second leash on life for sure.

- Again, there are certain dogs.

Do you?

Can you tell pretty quickly this dog's gonna work?

That one might not be good for the program?

- [Mik] Yeah.

We have an adoption specialist who has been doing this for years and knows how to pick that temperament of that dog.

She can walk through a pound or a shelter and pick a dog pretty quickly.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So Mabel right now; she's been kind of moaning a little bit and she looks like she.

- Getting my attention 'cause she knows my anxiety's high.

- Really?

- Leave it.

- Is that?

So is that really how that works?

- Oh yeah.

I get like, if I'm driving and I get anxious from somebody.

- Yeah.

- She whines.

Sometimes she'll lick my ear, but if my anxiety starts going up, she knows and she starts, what appears to be annoying me.

But it's actually an excuse I have.

My dog has to go to the bathroom, I can walk away.

- Yeah.

- And nobody questions it.

- Yeah.

- I mean that is, that's a training on a different level.

- [Mik] Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

- Alright, so again, you've been around.

Response mostly positive?

- [Mik] Oh absolutely.

- Yeah?

- [Mik] Yeah.

- Okay.

So what is Mable?

Mabel's giving me the eye.

Alright.

Mabel take it easy.

- Good job.

- So, an average day, you and Mabel?

What goes on?

- We do whatever everybody else does except we do it together.

Leave it alone.

And we go to the, but we do go to the park.

Every day.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- That's something she makes me do that I didn't do before her.

I walk at the park and then she walks around and plays with her friends.

- [Ted] And it's also good exercise to get you out of the house.

- I lost 65 pounds since I had her.

- How much?

- About 65.

- You're not Tiny anymore.

- Just from walking every day with her.

- Yeah.

Well good for you Mabel.

Good job.

You're doing a great job.

Yeah, you're doing a good job.

- See everybody.

- It's giving me the eye again.

(Tiny laughs) Mabel, thank you for joining us.

Tiny, thank you as well.

Mik, thank you as well.

- Thank you.

- Congratulations on this program and continued success.

- Thank you.

- And to you as well.

- Thank you.

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- Caregivers of veterans play a crucial role in the health and wellbeing of those who have served in the military.

But sometimes those caregivers find themselves in need of support.

An organization called Co-op Survival brings caregivers together to create handmade dog leashes, all while building a community of support.

For more we spoke to Sharon Grassi, President and CEO of Co-op Survival board.

And Kelly Stewart, who is a caregiver to her fiance.

Good to have you both here.

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you.

- This is fascinating stuff.

Alright, Sharon.

Co-op Survival.

What is that?

- So Co-op Survival, just the name, is based on helping someone else survive.

My son is actually the one that named it.

He was the one that made the first leash, which was a gift to us, when he was at Walter Reed Military Hospital.

And it really, from the military, a cooperator or a cooperative is someone who helps you survive.

And it's also a gaming term, which he's a gamer.

He's a young, - Yeah.

- disabled veteran, so I'm also a military caregiver for him and it came from making leashes after he came out.

And after neurosurgery, he couldn't make the leashes anymore.

So we had a ton of paracord and I brought caregivers together to get rid of the paracord so that we could make leashes and give them away to vets.

And it turned into something that was very unexpected.

It gave us all some common ground to have conversation.

Most of us military caregivers come from a very diverse background.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- We don't have a lot in common, so it gave us time to listen and to talk to each other about the things that, that we missed.

- Brought caregivers together.

When you're working on these leashes, huh?

- [Sharon] Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- [Sharon] And then we included veterans.

- Yeah.

- [Sharon] And the community.

- How did you get involved, Kelly?

Talk about your son as much as you're comfortable, if you would, and how you got involved with all this.

- So my son is actually active duty.

I'm not a caregiver for him, but my fiance is the service member that I'm a caregiver.

So we have a little bit of a difference caring for a child versus caring for a partner.

We like to say military caregivers are more like service dogs, because people can understand that we perform different tasks for our service members.

My role, primarily, is communication support.

So it's been about nine years that I've been serving in this role.

And I met Karen through an event by an organization for military caregivers.

- Yeah, yeah.

But it's interesting, as far as military caregiving and the adjustment involved here from what was to what now is.

- You bring up a really good point.

It's very challenging.

Military caregivers' lives are unpredictable.

We face isolation.

Not just within the larger community, but within our family.

And the unpredictability, what we think is normal one day, and we would hope for the next 30 days could be normal, could change the next day, because we have so many different tasks that we perform.

And I think Co-op Survival is filling a role within our local community, to bring caregivers together where people understand our lives.

- [Ted] And do you experience that yourself, when you're with other caregivers, all of a sudden, there's community there?

- [Kelly] Oh, absolutely, community.

Especially for our service members with invisible injuries.

If you can see someone uses a wheelchair or they have a service dog, people understand.

But the invisible injuries?

- [Ted] Yeah.

- [Kelly] Outside the caregiver community, it's, - [Ted] It's tough.

Yeah.

- [Kelly] Yeah.

- [Ted] Sharon, how long does it take to make one of these leashes?

- [Sharon] It takes about two hours if you start to finish.

So, in that time frame you have time to talk to someone.

You basically need to talk to the person next to you or listen.

And you know, I think sometimes we lose that.

We're a very digital community and when we come together and we talk and we listen, we start hearing these things that, that maybe we wouldn't, you know, the messages in between the conversations.

Learning how to talk to a veteran.

When a veteran transitions, we, from military, because of a wound illness or injury, we all realize that they're transitioning, but we don't realize how much the entire family transitions and how isolating that family can be from the community, because the community doesn't know how to talk to us.

We don't know how to talk to each other.

The veteran doesn't know how to talk to the community or us.

And we, as caregivers can be very unseen.

We see the veteran wheeling in, in a wheelchair, but sometimes we don't even recognize the person that's behind the wheelchair or the person that's doing the communication with the VA because the veteran has traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress.

And they just really can't deal with that.

And that's really what I do with my son too.

- Yeah.

- Is taking that, that advocacy.

- And making the leashes obviously gives you a chance to relax.

A chance to commune in these sorts of things.

Before we let you go, how important is the program to you and your family?

- It's very important.

A lot of the Arizona resources for caregivers have gone away in the last couple of years.

So Co-op Survival Was there for events when I had a recent life changing event in my life.

And I went and I made leashes and you can't be unhappy making leashes.

(Ted laughs) So it's very important.

Well, you can.

- [Sharon] Every now and then, there's some like expletives that come out when someone's having a bad day, but you're in a safe space.

- Yeah.

- So it's really important as caregivers, we're talking about things with our veterans, it's very important to be in a safe space.

So somebody knows why we're complaining, what's going on or what we're celebrating.

- Well, we are celebrating you because this is a great program and it sounds like you're really doing a lot of good work and just helping people relax and live better lives.

Sharon Grassi and Kelly Stewart, thank you so much.

Congratulations on your success and continued success.

- All right.

Thank you so much.

- You bet.

- Thank you.

And that is it for now.

I'm Ted Simons.

Thank you so much for joining us on this special edition of Arizona Horizon.

You have a great evening.