Panama City Fire Department Therapy Dog Nominated for National Award

PANAMA CITY, FL – The Panama City Fire Department (PCFD) has a valuable, four-legged asset on its team who has been nominated for the First Responder Paws Therapy Dog Award in an annual contest hosted by FHE Health, a national behavioral health provider. The award will be given to the dog with the highest number of votes. Voting opened to the public November 25, 2024, and concluded on December 4, 2024.

The winning dog and handler will receive the following:
• A $2,000 check in support of their work from FHE Health
• A gift basket from the online pet retailer Chewy
• A feature blog that reaches more than 100,000 people on social media and a press
release announcing their news
• A $2,500 donation made in their honor to FHE Health’s partner organization, First
Responders Pack Foundation, which exists to train more therapy dogs for first
responders

Lucy is the PCFD’s first emotional support certified canine, owned by the PCFD’s first female Engineer, Amanda Scoggin. Both Amanda and Lucy are integral to the Peer Support Team,
assisting firefighters in overcoming the challenges that are faced by heroes that help our citizens in every way. Lucy is a Crisis Response K9 and has been deployed to two natural
disaster areas to support first responders. She also is trained to provide comfort in mass casualty incidents.

Lucy began her journey as a therapy dog with visits to the Clifford Chester Sims State Veterans’ Nursing Home, where she still volunteers her time and service. She has represented the nonprofit “2nd Alarm Project” as they begin to implement their canine therapy program in support of first responder mental health.