PULSE Magazine | May 2019 Issue

ABOVE AND BEYOND Kindness for animals because all life matters.

Diana Price, Clinical Specialist Ty Roberts, Medic

Some days we don’t just run on people and we don’t just help those who call while on duty. Today coming back from Round Rock hospital going back to station around 0645 we found a dog that was hit by a car and left in the road with cars just passing her. It was obvious she had died and so my partner (Ty Roberts) and I stopped and moved her out of the road so she wouldn't continue to get hit. We took her collar and called the pet watch number to find her owner because I would want someon e to let me know where my pet was and not wonder what happened. I was able to obtain an address and phone number of the dog owner and called. Initially no answer so I just left my name and number for them to call me when they could. About four hours later I got the call and it was obviously a little old man and he seemed anxious about the call. He had been looking for his dog who got scared in the storm we were having. In that moment I had to tell him I had found his dog and that she had died and her location. He informed me that her name was Kate and that she was 14.9 years old. I give death notices frequently with my job but this one was hard. I could hear in his voice that he had hope and fear and I wasn’t standing next to him I was on the phone which made it much harder. I offered to come and help him with her and he declined the help. I called him a little later to make sure he was ok and had found her and again offered to help him with her. He only asked if we had her collar and we did so I took it to him. It was a hard day and I cried with him. He thanked me and said that was the kindest thing anyone had done for him. Kate was his best friend and only companion and now will forever be a memory for me. Some things never leave you with this job and I am sure that this little old man and his dog Kate will stick with me forever. RIP sweet girl. Much gratitude and deepest appreciation for your devotion and compassion of animals. Finding Kate and dealing with her in such a caring way I'm sure brought comfort to the elderly gentleman who lost his best friend gave him closure during a painful time. It takes a special heart to deal with the tragic loss of a fur baby and to do it for one that you never had the chance to meet. This speaks volumes of the kind of people you both are and shows that you both cherish all life. Well done!! “I think the owner of Kate appreciate it and didn’t feel so alone. Kate was a Australian Shep- herd and he had her since she was a puppy. I can’t stand it when animals get hit and people keep running them over as if they didn’t matter. All life matters and part of our job and our role in life is to make sure they know they mattered.” D. Price “There are times with this job that I feel like we make more of a difference with what we do than the medicine. We don’t often show emotion to people we are helping and most of the time we are very stoic but I just couldn't be that day.”

Kate

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