Angela Radke, debris mission specialist from the Fort Worth District gives Kodi Bear a namesake hug during a recent canine visit March 17, to the USACE Emergency Field Office in Lahaina, Hawaii. (USACE Photo by Edward Rivera)

Angela Radke, debris mission specialist from the Fort Worth District along with Melodie Ulman, Therapy Dog Specialist from Happier Hounds Training spend some time with Kodi Bear during a canine visit March 17 to the USACE Emergency Field Office in Lahaina, Hawaii. (USACE Photo by Edward Rivera)

Nicole Wojcik, USACE Emergency Field Office, engineer from the Fort Worth District gets tons of love from Koko, during a recent canine visit March 17, to the USACE Emergency Field Office in Lahaina, Hawaii. (USACE Photo by Edward Rivera)

Melodie Ulman, Therapy Dog Specialist from Happier Hounds Training, Clay Morgan, debris mission manager and Angela Radke, debris mission specialist from the Fort Worth District spend time with Kodi Bear during a recent canine visit March 17, to the USACE Emergency Field Office in Lahaina, Hawaii. (USACE Photo by Edward Rivera)

On a breezy Sunday afternoon, St. Patrick’s Day 2024, it wasn’t “the luck of the Irish” being shared with the members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Emergency Field Office on Maui, Hawai‘i, but the love of the canines.

More than 120 USACE team members are actively engaged in the Federal Emergency Management Agency assigned Hawai‘i Wildfires Recovery Mission. Their tasks include debris removal, temporary housing design and temporary elementary school construction.

As part of the Critical Incident Stress Management program, Peer Supporters Jonathan Sobiech, from the St. Paul District and Tina Fraker, from the Albuquerque District, arranged for two therapy dogs, Koko and Kodi Bear, to visit the USACE team at the EFO in Lahaina. The 8-year-old Labrador retrievers gave kisses, allowed hugs and belly rubs, but more importantly reduced stress for the team.

“Many of our folks have fur babies at home so these visits give them a sense of being home. They are very well received,” said Sobiech.

For newly arriving USACE team members Sobiech and Fraker explain, CISM is a peer-driven stress management program combining pre-crisis preparation, stress education and post-event response to allow emergency responders the ability to quickly recover from the stressful job-related incidents and trauma. One of the programs major goals is to ensure responders understand the importance of self-care for self-preservation, especially during disasters.

According to Sobiech, it can be difficult to find therapy dog services in or around regions that have suffered from a disaster. “But when you do, it always is amazing at how willing they are to do it for us. The folks that brought the dogs drove from over an hour away to spend time with us.”

For many of the EFO team who have pets back home, it wasn’t quite the same, but it was a good substitute, nonetheless. Office Engineer Nicole Wojcik, from the Fort Worth District said the furry visitors provided a warming experience and made her feel good. Having dogs of her own, she was reminded of home and her two fur babies waiting for her to return.

“Having the support dogs in the office today was a huge morale boost for myself and everyone in the EFO,” said EFO Battle Captain, Capt. Charles Bierwirth from the Alaska District. “Our mission supporting the contractors and field representatives is incredibly stressful and the long hours required start to take a toll on folks. The hugs and attention from the pups were a much-needed break.”

(USACE Story by Edward Rivera)