Aero: New Guide Dog on the Job

Chris Adams was born with congenital cataracts that led to glaucoma, scarring, corneal transplants and retinal issues beginning in her early 20s. For the past two decades, her vision went steadily downhill, and how on the “good days,” she can only see a little in her right eye. She had gone back to college to get a degree in elementary education so she could teach, but her eyesight became too limited and that didn’t seem possible. Nevertheless, she lived alone and felt mostly independent, except for one issue—she hated using a white cane.

That led to the decision to get her first guide dog, Liberty. With Liberty, Chris was able to run errands by herself and felt less reliant on her mother to be a sighted guide. After Liberty retired two years ago and went to Maine to live with Chris’s daughter, she found it difficult to live without a guide dog.

Now Chris is paired with a lovely new guide dog names Aero. “I am me again!” she says enthusiastically. “I’m not off on the sidelines of life anymore.” A wonderful companion, Aero is well-behaved, smart, and “a total snuggle bunny.” Like her handler, she loves to interact with people. Chris looks forward to their travels together and says happily, “We’re getting ready to get out there and be part of the world.”

Aero is sponsored thanks to the generosity of Air Animal Pet Movers who have helped 50,000 families and counting relocate their pets since 1977, most of which are on board commercial airlines. Naming this future superhero Aero aligns perfectly with their business.

© Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc., 2020. All right reserved. Used with permission.

Chris Adams & Aero

Pedal Power to End Polio Sponsored by Air Animal

Rotarian,Thrill-Seeker Completes Fourth Solo Cross-Country Bicycle Trek to End Polio. More than 10,000 miles to End Polio Now sponsored by Air Animal Pet Movers

 

Nick Hall heading to the water for the traditional tire dip in San Diego

Nick Hall, a 74-year-old Rotarian, retired psychoneuroimmunologist and motivational speaker, finished his fourth cross-country bicycle trip dipping his bicycle tire in the Pacific at Oceanside, CA yesterday. The Seattle to San Diego route along the Pacific Coast Highway and US 101 "boxed in the U.S." along the West Coast. Hall rode solo without a support van and was sponsored by Air Animal Pet Movers.

 

Hall’s rides have all raised funds for Rotary International’s efforts to end polio in the world. He’s been a self-described thrill seeker since childhood. In the 1960s, Hall wrestled alligators as a summer job in Black Hills, SD before pedaling his bicycle to Massachusetts for the fall semester.

 

Nick’s 2015 Pedal Power to End Polio Now excursion began in San Diego and ended in St. Augustine, FL. In 2018 Hall rode from Temple Terrace, FL to the Rotary International Convention in Toronto, Canada. The Seattle to Tampa ride in 2020 challenged Hall with mountain ranges and COVID shutdowns. Can you imagine pedaling all day in summer heat and finding restaurants, gas stations and parks closed? Together, the trips raised $50,400 to end polio.

 

"My goal this year is to get as many $10K donations as possible from individuals and Rotary clubs marking the fact that this trip will put me over the 10,000 mile mark since that first ride in 2015," Hall said.

 

Air Animal Pet Movers, owned by fellow Rotarian Walter M. Woolf, VMD, is the ride's major sponsor. “Nick’s tenacity and physical capabilities amaze and entertain at the same time as he’s helping Rotary reach our goal of a polio-free world. The world beat smallpox. We can win against polio by working together—especially with the worldwide COVID endemic,” Woolf said.

 

The lead $10,000 donation came from Thomas Dempsey and Alexis Dempsey Doyle. “Dr. Nick Hall inspires us all to push to our greatest and furthest extent! His commitment to ending polio now inspires our donation,” said Alexis. All donations to the ride through the 501(C)3 Rotary District 6890 Foundation will be sent to the Rotary International Foundation Polio Plus campaign.

 

The global pandemic shut down polio vaccination programs allowing wild polio virus to spread. From a low of 22 cases two countries in 2017 to 140 cases in 2020. Hall believes ending polio is within reach for all humankind. He vividly remembers polio epidemics of his youth when public pools were closed to prevent spreading the virus.

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Resources

 

·         Why ending polio around the world now safeguards health for everyone. It’s even critical for people in the United States where polio was eradicated years ago—until this year. Read “What the Polio Case in New York Tells Us About the End of Polio” by Arthur Allen, Kaiser Health News, July 29, 2022.

·         Nick Hall’s adventure cycling golden rules: be safe, have fun, do what you love, and support what’s important.

·         Review Nick's ride:

a.    Facebook: PedalPowerToEndPolio

b.    Instagram: PedalPowerEndPolioNow

c.    Twitter: @PedalPwrFL

·         DONATE to help Rotary International bring an end to polio. Every donation will be matched by the Gates Foundation. We’re this close.

OR

 https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=WYTCU6YEJVWRQ

Meet Aero, Future Super Hero

This beautiful yellow Labrador retriever named Aero is enrolled in Southeastern Guide Dog preschool and proudly sponsored by Air Animal® Pet Movers.

Charity of Choice

Aero recently went home with her puppy raiser to start her journey toward superhero status! Aero’s volunteer puppy raiser will be spending the next year teaching basic obedience and house manners until Aero is ready to come back to Southeastern Guide Dogs for evaluations and formal training.

Southeastern Guide Dogs serves those who cannot see and those who have seen too much. Southeastern Guide Dogs offer dogs and services at no cost to people who need them across the United States. Their breeding and training facility in Palmetto, Florida is one of the most advanced in the world. They raise and train “elite working dogs that provide life-changing services for people with vision loss, veterans with disabilities and children with significant challenges such as vision loss or the loss of a parent in the military.” Training and caring for one dog for life is a $60,000 investment.

Our staff toured the campus and attended “Beyond the Dark” to understand more about the organization, its mission and its capabilities. Watch our News Blog for occasional Pupdates!

PennVet Working Dog Center Training Dogs to Sniff Out Covid 19

Researchers are working to train dogs to sniff out cases of COVID-19. If the dogs can successfully detect someone with or without symptoms, they could be deployed to hospitals and transit hubs in months.

“They do a lot of other diseases, we're pretty confident that they can do [COVID-19],” one doctor tells CBS News. See the full story.

The Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine Working Dog Center is a long-standing charity of choice for the Air Animal team. The center has trained dogs to detect diabetes issues, ovarian cancer and other human diseases. The tandem goal is to create electronic detection devices that are a sensitive as a dog's nose.