Retired NYC sanitation officer and 9/11 first responder gets service dog to help manage PTSD ahead of anniversary
Raphael Jarvis, who worked at Ground Zero and later served in Iraq, says a service dog from K9s For Warriors has become his primary support for anxiety, sleeplessness and other PTSD symptoms
Raphael Jarvis, a retired New York City sanitation officer and veteran who spent months working at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and later deployed to Iraq, said he will mark the 24th anniversary of the attacks with the help of a service dog trained to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The 64-year-old Bronx resident said the golden retriever, named Ben and provided by veterans’ group K9s For Warriors, has become “more than medication” and helps him manage anxiety, sleeplessness and the hypervigilance that followed his work at the World Trade Center site and his military service.
Jarvis recounted that on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the weather seemed right for a normal day until news broke that planes had struck the World Trade Center. He said he raced to Ground Zero and spent roughly nine months working “the pile,” searching for survivors and remains. He described the work as grim and said it left lasting effects: “You could smell the morgue.” He also lost two acquaintances in the aftermath, former first officer Walter McNeil and firefighter Ronnie Henderson.
After planning to retire following 23 years in the National Guard, Jarvis said his unit was called up and he deployed to Iraq during the 2003 invasion. He left the military the following year and later said he noticed changes in himself that he could not shake — anger, headaches, insomnia and a persistent feeling of looking over his shoulder.
A counselor at the Department of Veterans Affairs told Jarvis not to keep everything inside, and he was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. He said family members noticed he had become different, and everyday activities such as attending Yankees games became difficult because of crowds and noise.
By 2023 Jarvis applied for and was paired with Ben, a highly trained golden retriever from K9s For Warriors. The group covered training costs that Jarvis said amounted to about $30,000 for the roughly nine months of preparation the dog undergoes before being placed with a veteran. Jarvis said Ben immediately bonded with him: “He jumped on me right away. I have the happiness that was missing all these years.”
Jarvis said Ben accompanies him nearly everywhere and helps him confront situations that previously triggered severe stress. He plans to return to the World Trade Center site on the anniversary and said he could not have made that visit without the dog’s presence. “I still get those butterflies in my stomach,” Jarvis said. “Ben makes me feel good, I feel safe.”
He described Ben as his “pride and joy” and said he would not change his service history despite the trauma. “I’m definitely proud of my service — if I had to do it all again, I would,” he said.
K9s For Warriors is among several veterans’ organizations that place trained dogs with veterans coping with PTSD and related conditions; such programs typically involve extensive training to prepare animals to recognize and interrupt anxiety episodes, assist in crowded or noisy environments and provide companionship. Jarvis credited the VA counselor with encouraging him to seek help and said receiving a formal diagnosis helped him pursue treatment options, including a service dog.
Jarvis’s account illustrates the long-term mental health burdens many first responders and veterans face after large-scale traumatic events and combat deployments. He said the combination of his experiences at Ground Zero and in Iraq had a cumulative effect that emerged over years and that professional intervention and support animals played a central role in his recovery process.
As survivors and responders observe the 24th anniversary of Sept. 11, Jarvis said his decision to return to the site is an act of remembrance and healing. He added that while he still experiences physical and emotional reactions to the anniversary, the presence of Ben has changed how he copes with those moments and has allowed him to reconnect with daily life in ways he had not for decades.