Medical forms

I'm going to take a moment to fill everyone in on the two medical forms CCI has Service Dog applicants get filled out.   I'll briefly talk about getting *my* medical forms filled out in my next post.

One of the forms is to be filled out by the applicant's physician.  (Or one of the applicant's physicians?)  The other form is titled Professional Reference Form (PRF).  The PRF is meant to be filled out by a physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, case worker, etc.  Basically, someone who knows something about the applicant's medical situation and abilities should be who fills out this form.  

The forms are fairly similar.  There are some questions about the applicant's diagnosis (primary and secondary, if applicable).  CCI wants to know how the applicant's condition(s) affect the applicant and whether the condition(s) is progressive. After the more "open ended" questions, there are a number of statements where the medical professional can circle one of three answers.  My forms are already off in the mail, but I'll give examples (not exact) from memory. I really wish I'd taken the time to write down some of these!  Sorry!  Ex 1: Able to manage others.  Well?  Adequately? Poorly?  Ex 2: Able to exercise good judgement about safety.  Always? Sometimes? Never?  Hopefully you get the idea.  It's pretty clear that CCI wants to know 1) How might a Service Dog be helpful to the applicant? and 2) Is the applicant physically and psychologically capable of caring for and handling a Service Dog safely? (along with, what limitations or challenges might the applicant have even if they are generally able to handle a dog) and 3) Is the applicant physically and mentally capable of going through Team Training.  Team Training can be quite exhausting and emotional!  

There's plenty of space for comments and I really liked the last two questions that are on both forms. (Paraphrasing because I didn't write these down either...Doh!!!) The first is: Would CCI's staff benefit from speaking with you in further detail?  The second is: Would you like more information from Canine Companions for Independence in case you feel you have other patients who could benefit from partnership with one of our highly-trained dogs?

I will do separate blogs about getting *my* forms filled out...

...but I'm running a little behind. (Tax season and all...so please bear with me.)  I'm very happy that I finally was able to get some help and get some questions answered so I was able to go ahead and publish the posts I'd already written but had been holding onto. I'll get another few posts up as soon as I can and soon we'll be caught up to present.  :) I hope everyone is enjoying my blog and learning about the application process to be matched with a successor service dog from Canine Companions for Independence!

The phone interview...a happy half hour!

On Tuesday (April 2nd), James called from CCI to schedule my phone interview.  Easy Peasy!  After we hung up, he emailed over some general information about dog care and welfare, some more information about CCI and the process I'm going through, and a note urging me to write down any questions I had about things in general or about the information he'd sent over.

On Thursday (April 4th), I anxiously waited by the phone for James to call.  At precisely 1pm, my phone rang and Step 2 was officially in progress.  James asked if Amy (getting her M.S.W.) could sit in on our talk.  I had no problem with that, of course.  James asked me questions about what tasks my last dog did most often, what did I think I was looking for in a dog, what commands were really important to me...and then he made me giggle.  Q: Why do you think it's important that a dog maintain a healthy weight? (I'm paraphrasing.)  My A: Been having trouble with some fat graduate dogs lately???  We both had a chuckle and I went into my "Thin is In" diatribe.  (Fat dogs are a personal pet peeve.)  He asked some logistics questions about my ability to get to team training, maintain myself during (getting myself meals and such), and managing field trips.  I asked the few questions I had - and it was determined that while CCI is fully supportive of my bringing up a training assistant, I probably don't really need one.  That works well, actually, since my potential training assistant had asked about potentially working some while in Santa Rosa and only attending some of the lectures.  No problem.  James verified that I had gotten the medical forms for Step 3, let me know that once my medical forms had been received our final step before being placed on the waitlist would be the in-person interview, and we hung up.  Step 2 complete!

Out of order!!!

I'd been told that Step Two would be a phone interview and Step Three would be medical forms.

As luck would have it, I knew I'd have to have an appointment with my primary care physician just to refill my medications.  I emailed Lauren to ask if she'd be willing to go ahead and mail me the medical forms so I could make the most of what would otherwise be an uneventful appointment (and save myself from needing another appointment to have my doctor fill out CCI's questionnaire).  Thankfully, she saw the sense in my request and I was sent the medical forms before my phone interview.  My appointment is on Monday and I'll be making the most of it.  That said, I actually had my phone interview yesterday!  More on that in my next post.

Step One: Service Team Application Packet

I'll only be discussing the application process for a Service Dog.  The application processes for the other types of dogs that CCI places (Skilled Companions, Hearing Dogs, Facility Dogs) are different from the process I'm going through.

Whether someone's applying for the first time or they're applying for a successor dog, the first set of paperwork is pretty much the same. First, there's an eight page application that asks ALL kinds of questions.  CCI needs to know about my disability, mobility, and general health.  They also need to know about my residence, household, and what kind of environment my home is like (busy, calm, kids, pets, yard, etc.).  There are questions about my level of education, my job, my lifestyle and my hobbies.  I'm asked to diagram a typical week in my life.  Of course there are also questions about my personality and what I'm looking for in a Service Dog partner.  There are plenty of opportunities on the application for me to express any hesitencies or questions I might have (in my case, none!).  Lastly, CCI needs to know if things like coat color, sex, breed, and size are important to me and makes sure I am aware that I'm financially responsible for all aspects of the service dog's care.  I've greatly simplified what's on this questionnaire...it took me many hours to complete it to the best of my abilities!!!

If the dog will be a successor, there is a one page successor questionnaire included in the initial application packet.  The questions are basically about how the previous placement ended, what kind of placement it was, and where the dog is now (retirement plans).  In my case, my last dog is deceased, so filling this form out was kind of tough.

There is a "Training Assistant Questionnaire" to be filled out by the person I'm planning to bring with me to team training.  Not everyone needs a training assistant.  I didn't have one last time. Still, though, CCI asks applicants to identify someone who can come to team training, participate to whatever degree needed, and generally support the applicant - team training is full of pretty long days that can be physically and emotionally demanding.  This person would also be the one to assist the applicant once the team gets home with anything from grooming to feeding to exercising or toileting the dog if/when the team needs a helping hand.

We are asked to write and include in our application packet a short autobiography.  I don't know how it is for other people, but I'm lousy at writing this kind of thing.  So strange to try to summarize my life!  Nevertheless, I dug in, did my best, and produced a two-page-long autobiography.

Finally, we are asked to include at least 3 photos of ourselves, the medical equipment we most often use, our home, and a photo of the Training Assistant we'll potentially bring to team training with us.

Whew!!!

I don't know how long this takes other people, but I will say that it's quite a bit of work to thoroughly answer all of the questions, get your potential training assistant to fill out their application, write the autobiography, get the needed photos, then put it all together in a big envelope (after having checked repeatedly to make sure nothing's been missed!) to be mailed to CCI!  Confession time!  It took me awhile to decide I was ready for another dog from CCI, but once I made the decision to apply for a successor I also decided to focus on this process and get though it reasonably quickly.  I actually dropped everything and spent about a week just working on getting all of this together.

IIRC, I sent my application in via overnight mail on March 14th.  Why the overnight mail?  The 14th was a Thursday and I wanted to make sure my packet got to CCI when people were on campus.  I guess I could have waited to mail it, looking back, but my completed application arrived on March 15th, 2013.

Starting at the start...It's finally time!

On March 5th, 2013, I had a meeting at CCI.'s campus in Santa Rosa, CA.  I'll gloss over the details, but at the end of the meeting it was decided that it's finally time for me to start the process to hopefully be matched with a new canine partner from CCI.!  The journey begins...and I'm ECSTATIC!  Successor Service Dog!

For those readers who aren't as familiar with Canine Companions for Independence, I will do my best to explain the terms I use throughout this blog.  I'm also very happy to answer questions, but please always remember that answers to many questions can be found at www.cci.org.  So, in this initial post, I will mention that Canine Companions for Independence is usually abbreviated to C.C.I. in casual conversation and when talking to other people somehow involved with Canine Companions for Independence.  I also want to mention that CCI has five "campuses" (AKA Training Centers) spread across the United States.  In no particular order: CCI Southeast in Orlando, FL, CCI Northeast in Medford, NY, CCI North Central in Deleware, OH, CCI Southwest in Oceanside, CA and CCI Northwest in Santa Rosa, CA.  CCI's National headquarters shares campus space at the Northwest campus in Santa Rosa, CA. Typically, clients go through their application process, attend team training, and are placed with a dog all through the campus closest to their home.  In my case, this means Northwest region.  (I should note that ALL of CCI's Hearing Dogs are trained and placed out of CCI Northwest.) I will also go ahead and define successor service dog.  I was partnered with a CCI Service Dog from 1999 until my partner passed away in 2011.  That means that this dog will be a successor to my first dog.  (The term "replacement dog" is never used.  My next dog cannot "replace" my first dog.  He or she will have a different personality and our partnership will be different from the one I had with my first CCI service dog.  My relationship with dog #2 will be special, unique and wonderful.  Thus, the term successor is used.)

Many of those reading who are familiar with CCI are current or former volunteers of one type or another.  I adore CCI volunteers...some of the kindest, selfless, patient, AMAZING human beings I have had the privilege to know, all of them.  CCI is only able to provide life-changing, highly trained dogs (for free, no less) because of the incredible individuals who donate incredible amounts of time and money.  I cannot even begin to express my thankfulness to CCI's volunteers.  I can, however, try to give you folks a glimpse into what future graduates go through, start all the way through what I hope will be an end - when I graduate with my next dog.  CCI can terminate a client's application process at any point.  Someone might even go all the way through, be invited to Team Training, then leave without a dog.  I'm optimistic that things will go smoothly for me. Hopefully, readers will be able to virtually come along with me via this blog through the application process, try to wait patiently with me for an invite to Team Training, get as much of a blow-by-blow of 'sanitized' Team Training as I have the energy to give (and that I can share without giving away any information that CCI wants to keep quiet until matches are finalized...things during Team Training are very hush-hush for very good reasons!) - right through graduation day and my early days home with my new partner!

So, I have the first step of the application process in hand and I'll talk more about it next blog!