Kyle Gilmartin has a new four-legged partner in his ongoing recovery from a 2024 shooting.
Gates, a 10-month-old Goldendoodle provided to him through a nonprofit program, will help the wounded Scranton Police detective recover and adapt to living with a traumatic brain injury.
Gilmartin was responding to a series of shootings and suspected gang activity in West Scranton when he was shot twice in the head on Jan. 11, 2024.
Now, a little over a year later, Gilmartin is working with Gates to start a new chapter.
Gates isn’t a regular service dog, she’s part of Tails of Valor. It’s a Lehigh Valley-based nonprofit dedicated to veterans and first responders rehabilitation from Post Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Heather Lloyd, Tails of Valor’s founder and executive director, said the duo will work over the next year to develop a deep bond. By the end of the program, Gates and Gilmartin will be able to read each other’s needs without words, she explained.
“You see them blossom as a team and they both will learn how … to attend to each other,” said Lloyd.
Gilmartin and Gates are at the beginning of their journey together. They celebrated their progress on Friday night at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton alongside University of Scranton occupational therapy students who raised funds for Gates’ training.
Gilmartin did not speak at the celebration.
Stephanie DeNaples, a faculty specialist for the university’s OT department, said her students raised $15,000 for Gates. Therapy dog training and care can cost upwards of $25,000, she added.
She said she’s excited to see what Gilmartin and Gates will achieve together, noting that Gates “chose” Gilmartin.
Tails of Valor works to match veterans and first responders to a dog that can best serve their needs. Gilmartin and Gates hit it off quickly, Lloyd said.
'It’s not a cure, but it does help me'
Jason Mertz, Gilmartin’s mentor through the program, said Tails of Valor brought normalcy back to his life. Like Gilmartin, Mertz was shot while responding to a call. He is an officer with Whitehall Township Police in Lehigh County.
“It’s not a cure, but it does help me … I have Holland do what's called deep pressure therapy,” Mertz said.
At his command, Holland will come up onto Mertz’s shoulders to help him calm down.
“She will stay there until I give her the command to come off … It just allows you to do things that you wouldn't necessarily be able to do on your own. Simple things [like] doing something with your family, going to a mall, going trick-or-treating.” said Mertz.
Mertz also is Tails of Valor’s first officer to complete the program.
Lloyd said she expanded the program after seeing the connections between veterans' and first responders’ experiences: Law enforcement professionals are often called to duty during the worst moments in people's lives.
“When you pile that on on a daily basis, that's what's called cumulative trauma,” she said.
Each of Tails of Valor’s dogs is named after a veteran or first responder.
Gates’s namesake is Margaret Jacoby Gates, a nurse who served in England and France during WWII. She treated patients with injuries that ranged from gunshot wounds to psychiatric care, according to Tails of Valor.
