Golden PAWS Assistance Dogs is partnering with Collier County EMS to establish the first local program to assist first responders. The primary objective for the dogs is to provide comfort and companionship to CCEMS’ first responders after critical incidents or in a time of stress relief. The CCEMS therapy dogs and their handlers are a part of CCEMS Peer Support team, Critical Incident Stress Management team and Critical Incident Response Team and may be deployed to any disaster response as deemed necessary by the CCEMS chief. Currently, CCEMS has two therapy dogs, Zelda and Leo.