Page 129 - K9 News Digital - Issue 11 May2020

Medical Alert Assistance Dogs call outs and hospital stays, these the London School of Hygiene and
support people with complex dogs give their partners and their Tropical Medicine and Durham
health conditions when they are in families greater confidence, peace University, a team that also
danger of having a potentially life- of mind, independence and quality recently demonstrated that trained
threatening medical event, so they of life, allowing them to lead full dogs are able to identify people
can take the necessary action and and happy lives. carrying malaria parasites with a
prevent hospital admission. On top of all the life-saving work high degree of accuracy by their
Using the power of their nose, the charity has been doing for the smell.
these assistance dogs can be past decade, this year the power The ‘super six’ dogs being
trained to detect even the faintest of a dog’s nose will become ever assessed to join the project have
changes in the smell of their more apparent with a project to no idea as their tails wag and their
human partner. investigate whether it can detect noses twitch as they enjoy their
Conditions such as diabetes, the odour of COVID-19. basic training that they are such an
Addison’s disease, PoTS and Following approvals and collection important part of history. Jasper,
severe allergies are among those of samples, the first phase will Norman, Digby, Star, Storm and
that the dogs can be trained to investigate whether there is an Asher are a very special group
detect and alert to well before their odour associated with COVID-19, of Labradors, Spaniels and a
human partner is aware that an and if successful this will be Labradoodle whose noses will
episode is about to occur. followed by more intensive training help provide a rapid, non-invasive
Since the outbreak of the to determine accuracy. If this is diagnosis towards the tail end of
COVID-19 pandemic, these dogs successful, a second phase will the epidemic.
have been saving lives in more test the dogs in live situations, The charity’s work is much needed.
ways than one, by helping keep following which the charity hopes One in two of us born after 1960
their partners out of hospital. to work with other agencies to train will be affected by cancer during
more dogs for deployment.
In the last year, Medical Alert our lifetime. Diabetes is on the rise.
Assistance Dogs partnered Dogs searching for COVID-19 The number of severe allergies
with diabetic clients alerted to a will be trained in the same way people suffer from has increased
combined 14,691 episodes of as Bio Detection Dogs that detect and many are life-threatening. The
low blood glucose levels. If each diseases like cancer and bacterial awful statistics around COVID-19
episode had required a visit to infections – by sniffing samples in are all too fresh in our minds. And
the Emergency Department that the training room and indicating the challenge all of these place
would have cost the NHS up to when they have found it. Following on the NHS is well known and not
£1,183,360. this stage of training they would slowing down.
then transfer to detecting the odour
Medical Alert Assistance Dogs Medical Detection Dogs is already
on individuals and the detector making a huge difference to
also reduce injuries requiring
dogs would work in a similar way
hospital attendance by 87% for many by training dogs to not only
to Medical Alert Assistance Dogs.
many clients. Those suffering save lives but also restore the
from conditions that cause them One dog could screen up to 250 confidence and independence that
to collapse suddenly and regularly people an hour. They would many of their clients lose when
without warning, such as PoTS, work in pairs and rotate after a they become ill.
would sustain injuries on average maximum of 20 minutes to ensure To find out more or to make a
every 6 collapses without their they get the necessary breaks and donation, please visit
canine lifesaver, often leading to their welfare needs are taken care www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk
an ambulance callout. of.
Your support will save lives.
As well as reducing ambulance This project is a collaboration with

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