Service dog center partners with Baylor hospital in Las Colinas

Staff Sgt. Jason Morgan was face down in water after the truck he had been riding in seconds earlier crashed on top of him, breaking his back.

His Air Force special operations squad was doing a narcotics mission in South America in 1999. His lungs filled with water, Morgan blacked out after the crash and did not wake up for two months.

The road to recovery was painful, tedious and heartbreaking. Morgan is father of three young children, and his wife filed for divorce.

“Going from jumping out of airplanes for special operations to not even being able to turn myself over in bed — there’s no words to describe it,” Morgan said.

Help — Morgan says a miracle — came in the form of his first service dog from Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that provides assistance dogs for people with a wide range of disabilities.

“It’s not just the physical things, giving me independence, but it’s the mental thing for me,” Morgan said. “The dog got me back out in society. It gave me worth again. That’s a price you can’t put on a dog.”

On Monday, Baylor Scott & White Health and Canine Companions for Independence officially opened the Kinkeade Campus, the first joint facility of its kind in the United States.

Officials said the need for the Texas facility is great because of the large number of people with disabilities.

More than 37 million people in the U.S. have a disability, according to the American Community Survey, and more than 2.9 million of those live in Texas (and 500,000 in North Texas).

Fostering great relationships

Work started in December on the 9-acre campus, which is adjacent to the Baylor Surgical Hospital at Las Colinas in north Irving.

The training center — named after U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade of Dallas— features on-site kennels and living quarters where human companions live for two weeks while learning how to work with their dog.

Several dogs and their veteran owners were honored during halftime of Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys game against the Philadelphia Eagles, just in time for Veterans Day on Wednesday.

The site will eventually be able to graduate 60 service dogs per year. The dogs are given to qualified individuals at no cost. Canine Companions for Independence receives donations and relies on volunteers, too.

The training center features plush cabins where people stay while getting adjusted to their new service dogs.

Anna O’Day and her son Adam, 14, of Southlake said they are quite an upgrade from the one they stayed at in California. Adam has autism and relies on his black Labrador retriever, Tyler, to help him.

With the crash command, Tyler puts pressure on Adam’s back, helping him calm down after a long day at school. The dog helps with self-esteem and gives him confidence.

“He’s a nice bridge to help Adam speak to strangers in social situations,” Anna O’Day said.

Joel Allison, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, said therapy dogs have been used in hospitals for years, and this is the next evolution of that.

“We also believe that God works not only through the hands of humans but also the paws of some of our greatest friends,” Allison said. “Their ability to bring out the best in people has been known since man and dog first came together tens of thousands of years ago.”

It started with the simple notion that everyone needs a best friend.

‘It gave me worth again’

That’s certainly the case with Rue, Morgan’s second dog, whom he calls his “battle buddy.”

“I could not believe the difference these dogs make,” Morgan said. “I still have a lot of severe pain. She knows when I’m not doing good. She gets on my lap. She’s the reason I get out of bed in the morning.”

Rue knows about 50 commands, including turning light switches on and off and retrieving items he’s dropped and can pull him with her harness. She even helps him get dates.

“It’s not just the physical things, giving me independence, but it’s the mental thing for me,” Morgan said. “The dog got me back out in society. It gave me worth again. That’s a price you can’t put on a dog.”

Kinkeade, whose old dog Bo used to visit Baylor hospitals, knows firsthand how important these dogs are for health.

“They will never be late for work. They will never be in a bad mood,” Kinkeade said. “They’ll never say this, ‘I need my space.’ They’ll never leave you when you get old. They’ll never talk about you behind your back.”

A 40-year tradition

Canine Companions began in 1975 and has training centers across the country, but the Kinkeade campus is its first in Texas.

Officials said that’s significant because it’s close to such military bases as Fort Hood in Kileen and Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, making it easier for people from there to stay closer to home while training with their dogs.

Here’s a look at Canine Companions over the past 40 years:

5,000 dog-human teams have been placed

1,900 active teams in the United States

3,000 volunteers work with the program

675 puppies born in the program each year

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Service dog center partners with Baylor hospital in Las Colinas."