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Healing After the Oklahoma Storm

Kris Butler © 1999

On May 3, 1999, the strongest winds ever recorded on this planet ripped through the Oklahoma City area. The tornado stunned the state, leaving destruction and trauma behind. 44 people were killed, hundreds more critically or seriously injured. 3,137 homes were destroyed, an additional 4,866 homes were declared unlivable. Countless family pets were literally blown away – lost, killed, or so gruesomely injured they could not be saved. People did not know if injured family members would survive. Families did not know where they would live.

In the days following the tornado, central Oklahoma became a well-organized crisis response machine, able to meet the immediate physical needs of each and every victim by the following day. (Unfortunately, Oklahoma has had far too much practice with crisis response.) Churches became shelters for the community’s newest homeless people. Churches also served as feeding stations and daycare centers for families who spent their day time hours sifting through rubble and waiting for authorities to validate claims for assistance.

Young children, apart from their parents, spent their days at the church shelters, cared for by heroic volunteers. To the rescue of these youngest tornado victims came Sunny, Otis and King Tut – three very special dogs who offered healing and comfort to children whose lives had suddenly become very complicated.

The trio of teams consisted of :

The three teams are active associates of an Oklahoma non-profit group called Petworks In Progress Foundation. Petworks mission is to provide opportunities for people with special needs to interact with appropriate animals and effective volunteers in settings that promote healing, rehabilitation, learning or an improved quality of life. Each of the three dogs was registered as a Delta Society® Pet Partners® team. Each volunteered regularly in settings that address physical rehabilitation, special education, or mental health. Working with people who were experiencing grief and pain were not new experiences for these dogs or these women.

It was Sherry who called the others after the May 3 tornado, saying, "Let’s go."

There is no protocol for taking animals to comfort children who’ve recently been through a natural disaster, and there was nothing "natural" about any of this. After researching options, the three women targeted the church shelter which had been designated to be the makeshift daycare center.

The teams arrived, unannounced, to an enthusiastic welcome from volunteers at the church. They were escorted to a large play room which held children who ranged in age from about 2 to 8 years old. (The older children were out working at their used-to-be home sites with the adults.) The little kids left at the church were in the last place they wanted to be: a strange building with strange people, absent parents, no familiar toys or stuffed animals, no security blankets – these special items were all gone. They had no idea why, and no end in sight. Some children stated immediately that their houses were gone. Some stated their pets were dead. Some could not stop talking. One didn’t talk at all. One bounced around the room in continuous hyperactivity. One sat motionless in a volunteer’s lap.

These children were not sick or diseased. Medicine would not have helped. A different kind of healing was needed, and the dogs move in as though they knew their work had begun. After a quick assessment of the room, the dogs and their handlers dropped to the floor, getting down to where their "patients" waited.

At first the children were bouncing in and out of small circles around the dogs. Some children spoke, and the human handlers responded sympathetically but briefly, wisely allowing their teammates’ quiet magic to begin its work. Sunny rested her head in a lap, actually motivating the child to initiate petting her soft clean fur. Otis had snorted as he walked in, getting everyone’s attention, then lay very still and encouraged a child to explore saggy baggy Pug wrinkles. King Tut found a small lap, and filled it with five fragile pounds of warmth and unconditional love.

As the children petted and hugged the dogs, the environment actually changed. A high pitched, anxious little boy’s voice became normal, and then quiet. A tired child who sat rocking back and forth, back and forth, lay down on his side and rested peacefully. In fact, every bit of the hyperactivity came to rest. The room heard the quiet, and it felt peaceful.

Some adults who were volunteering in other areas of the church came in and sat on the floor, not touching the dogs, just being in the room with them. From outside the children’s room, they’d heard the quiet, and perhaps felt the peace, too.

In the days ahead, Sherry and Sunny returned to the church shelter to be with the children. After about one week, all of the families had moved to housing that would serve as temporary homes until they were able to rebuild their own. Life for the children became one step closer to "normal."

Sunny, Otis, and King Tut continued their routine duties, providing their special services to schools and hospitals in their communities. Some patients who were hospitalized for injuries received from the May 3 tornado actually worked with the dogs during physical rehabilitation in Oklahoma City.

If another national-level crisis finds its way to Oklahoma, Sunny, Otis, Kind Tut, and other working teams of Petworks In Progress Foundation are prepared to say, "Let’s go!" In the meantime, almost every day, their work affects people in Oklahoma who are struggling to overcome personal crises such as learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, strokes, head injuries or spinal cord injuries. You can learn more about the people, dogs and cat associated with Petworks In Progress Foundation at their internet site at http://www.telepath.com/outanorm/petworks.html

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