Our guest is Joe Chairperson Fagnani of Service Paws of Central PA (SPCP) is a non-profit, non-residential, community-based organization, founded in 2011 by Ms. Leslie Kelly. All members of the SPCP Advisory Board are volunteers. SPCP was established with the goal of helping individuals financially obtain a service dog and/or helping defray extraordinary veterinary costs for those currently using a service dog.
Joe is from the New York City area and spent most of my life working as a Systems Analyst for several major corporations. When the last company for whom I worked was taken over by Star Wood Hotels, I was given an early retirement. This gave me the opportunity to move to Blair County.
“I’ve been advocating for blindness-related issues for fifty years. In 1968, I was part of a group that established a dog guide user’s organization and drafted the first New York State dog guide legislation. Through my volunteer work with other groups and organizations, I met Leslie Kelly and became a charter member of Service Paws.”
Service dogs are used for many reasons and are life-changing for those that are able to benefit from these extraordinary animals. Their services include but are not limited to, assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, providing non-violent protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.
