Paula Crawford-Gamble has spearheaded a partnership at Penn Medicine with Team Foster and Warrior Canine Connection where Veterans get to interact with dogs from birth through adulthood, training them to act as service dogs for fellow service men and women through a program called “Mission-based trauma recovery”. She now has a service dog of her own, Dollie, who helps her navigate the aftereffects of a TBI.

Crawford-Gamble has limited vision in her left eye due to a helicopter mishap, so Dollie guides her around objects she can’t see in her peripheral vision. Dollie also helps with the painful headaches her owner is prone to — sometimes placing her paws under Crawford-Gamble’s neck during an episode to provide comforting pressure. the first time Dollie performed the acupressure-like treatment — it is not a skill the Veteran was aware the dog was capable of. “She did that on her own,” Crawford-Gamble said. “She’s an innovative provider.

Paula Crawford-Gamble RN, MSN, CAPT, NC, USN (Ret), an acute care trauma nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania fulfilled a lifelong dream by joining the Navy Nurse Corps. Only months later Crawford-Gamble landed in Saudi Arabia at a Casualty Processing Unit in Jubail to treat those injured during the Persian Gulf War. This experience led her to become the first Navy reservist to earn Aircrew Wings. Later, she led the Medical Department as a captain aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George Washington (CVN-73), She also served as a flight nurse with Marine Aircraft Group 49 and the Navy Operational Medical Institute (NOMI), Also as Reserve Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of Portsmouth Naval Hospital, with the Marines, Crawford-Gamble helped to design and operationalize Joint EnRoute Care, a program to promote a streamlined mode of medical transport for the injured warrior.