Puppies that are making a difference

As part of their Epilepsy Awareness Month activities, the folks at UCB presented Canine Assistants with much needed supplies collected through a company wide donation drive. The supplies were presented to Canine Assistants at their graduation in support of their seizure response dogs.

Canine Assistants is a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities, including epilepsy, lead more independent lives by providing them with service dogs.

These dogs are adopted from various organizations and selectively screened for personality, temperament, and general health. Seizure response dogs are specially trained to remain next to a person during a seizure, summon help, or retrieve a phone prior to a seizure.

The cost of one service dog is nearly $20,000, which covers the in-depth training, ongoing support and veterinarian care for the life of the dog. But the benefits could outweigh the cost since, certain dogs may even develop the ability to predict and react in advance to an oncoming seizure once they are placed with their recipient.

For more information on Canine Assistants visit their website or view the documentary on PBS which includes interviews with trainers, the executive director and the recipients.

Let us know what you think about the idea of a canine assistant to help people with epilepsy. And what are your thoughts on the cost?

Jessica K. Smith Founder and CEO; Executive Director

Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.

See Full Bio