By Josh LaBella
Voice Reporter
Much of Carolyn Sires’s 30 years in physical therapy private practice has been spent helping the community. A Westie, she said she consolidated all her practices in the area to one location in her home city.
She said there are three communities she does charity work for: veterans, seniors, and individuals with disabilities.
“I learned so much from them,” said Sires. “From the veterans, I learned honor, integrity and pride. From the seniors, I learned wisdom. Wisdom enough not to make mistakes through their stories and their experiences. From the disabled I learned patience and humility and gratitude.”
Sires said she has treated active duty and military veterans with a whole range of injuries from loss of limbs to head trauma.
“Every veteran or active duty military I treated brought me closer to appreciating the country and appreciating their volunteerism,” said Sires. “To take a bullet for me. I just could not let this population go by the wayside. I had to do more and more for them.”
Sires said it was because of that belief that she got more involved in doing charity work for veterans. She said one way she is involved is by being a suicide prevention awareness advocate.
“It’s prevalent,” she said. “It’s needs to be stopped or it needs to be addressed.”
Sires said 22 veterans commit suicide a day on average. She questioned where the United States would be without its military, adding that they deserved to be taken care of during and after service.
“Because I am not courageous enough to volunteer frontline,” said Sires, “I will volunteer to take care of them when they need help.”
Sires said for eight years she has been a certified service dog trainer. She and 10-year-old yellow lab Blue have travelled across the country meeting with members of congress to lobby for service dogs for to be free for veterans who need them.
Senator Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Rosa DeLauro invited Blue and a few other service dogs to be their guests for the 2016 presidential inauguration. Sires said she has visited many state representatives and seven or eight members of congress in a year.
“We are incredibly well received,” said Sires. “They agree that service dogs, who used to be paid for by the government as a medical service devise, help [veterans]. There is enough study.”
According to Sires, service dogs were paid for by the federal government until 2012 when the funding ended. She said she is trying to get Congress to continue the program. She added that training service dogs costs around $30,000.
“It’s an expense,” said Sires, “but its life altering for them.”
For seniors, Sires said she teaches the population about Medicare fraud and scams and is a certified agent of the Agency on Aging. She said it is sad that there are so many seniors she has to counsel on fraud, waste and abuse.
She also said she helped fight and stop the Parkside Village Project, a housing development project in Branford that would have put 90 seniors out of a home.
“My passion for seniors is if, at the end of their lives, if we can’t find them a home, shame on us,” said Sires.
Sires also said she hosts events, classes and trips for seniors. She said what she does isn’t special.
“I’m not doing anything more spectacular than anybody else could do,” said Sires. “It’s just that I do it. There’s a lot of people out there who want to change the world. They always come to me and ask how they can. I tell them, ‘I’ll help you do it. But if you do it there is so much pride in doing it.’”