Volunteer needs service dog

Photo: Castanet Staff

Naleen Barchuk (right) present Fred Lindsey of Helping Hands with a $500 cheque.

A Penticton single-mother is turning to the community for help in fundraising for a PTSD/anxiety service dog.

Naleen Barchuk says she was a frequent volunteer with emergency responder non-profits such as Grand Forks Search and Rescue, West Boundary Road Rescue and St. John’s Ambulance. A search manager with Grand Forks Search and Rescue confirmed her long-term involvement with the team there.

“I saw a lot of trauma calls, and I can’t deal with it now,” she said, adding that she has given up her dream of becoming a full-time paramedic as a result of the situation.

Barchuk says her psychiatrist recommended a service dog, but because she was a volunteer, there is little in the way of public funding to pay for training.

“I have the dog, the dog has been approved to be trained for PTSD and anxiety, and I found a trainer that’s willing to do it,” she said. “But the funding is hard to come by.”

Barchuk has launched a GoFundMe campaign, in a last ditch effort to find the funding, for a dog she hopes can turn things around for her and allow her to return to work.