The faces of local paramedics brighten up the moment they see Neely.
“The medics look forward to seeing her,” Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services wellness co-ordinator Lyndsay Fearnley-Ungar said of the jet-black lab/golden retriever mix.
“People light up when they see her. She’s like Christmas morning.”
This was certainly the case when Sudbury.com visited the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre for an interview with Fearnley-Ungar last week, during which every paramedic who passed by had their moment with Neely.
Whether it was a smile, a quick hello or a belly rub, Neely received a healthy dose of attention.
Neely has been with Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services for three-and-a-half years.
She was trained by National Service Dogs in Cambridge, where it was determined that she’d be best suited as a facility dog, whose role is assisting everyone and not limited to a single person like a service dog is required to do.
“She does truly love everyone, and she remembers people,” Fearnley-Ungar said, adding that when it came time to apply to take her on as her primary handler, it was a “no-brainer” for her to sign on.
Fearnley-Ungar’s primary role is as a community paramedic, but in 2023 was hired to take on the community wellness co-ordinator role as part of a pilot project.
During 2026-27 budget deliberations later this year, the city’s elected officials are anticipated to vote on whether to make the position permanent.
As wellness co-ordinator, Fearnley-Ungar heads various educational and support programs with paramedics and firefighters, which she said her partnership with Neely aids a great deal in.
During such things as emotional debriefs with paramedics following traumatic events, Neely is often on hand to help out.
“Petting that dog while you’re trying to process a traumatic event allows you time to not 100-per-cent focus on that event,” Fearnley-Ungar said, describing Neely as being like a weighted blanket in her ability to calm people down.
“It’s inevitable that paramedics are going to get tragic calls,” she said. “That’s why we’re in this job. Part of the allure of the job is you never know what’s going to happen day-to-day, and part of the demise of the job is that you never know what’s going to happen day-to-day.”
In some cases, Fearnley-Ungar said that she has left the room to leave Neely comforting someone alone for a while and come back to find the person crying because Neely had listened to a story they weren’t ready to tell another human.
Because of Neely’s ability to help people open the doors of conversation, Fearnley-Ungar said people have ended up getting the help they need to overcome mental health issues.
“I truly think that a lot of it is because of Neely,” Fearnley-Ungar said. “She melts that facade. You can't help but be 100 per cent yourself when you’re with an animal. … She’s the heart melter.”
There’s no lack of mental health concerns among paramedics, with a 2016 national study finding that 44.5 per cent of first responders screened positive for symptoms consistent with one or more mental health disorder. The rate among the general public is approximately 10 per cent.
Paramedic Services Deputy Chief Paul Kadwell cited this study in a report he presented to the community and emergency services committee of city council last month regarding a proposal to make the wellness co-ordinator pilot project permanent.
Kadwell’s report noted that psychological injuries within the City of Greater Sudbury as a whole have ranged from 4-8 per cent since 2020, during which time they’ve been from 13-25 per cent among Paramedic Services staff.
Meanwhile, he recorded a notable decrease in the percentage of psychological injuries resulting in lost time since the wellness co-ordinator position was established in 2023, from 67 per cent in 2022 to a respective 41 per cent and 33 per cent in the two subsequent years.
The city’s elected officials voted last month for Kadwell to draft a business case regarding making the wellness co-ordinator position permanent for their consideration within their 2026-27 budget.
Fearnley-Ungar clarified that regardless of city council’s decision and whether she’s hired as wellness co-ordinator on a permanent basis, both she and Neely would remain with Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services. That said, if the wellness co-ordinator position were to be eliminated, she would revert to her regular position as a community paramedic, which would make Neely's interactions with paramedics in need more infrequent.
Outside of work, Neely lives with Fearnley-Ungar most of the time and a secondary handler on occasion, during which the canine is a “silly, silly dog,” Fearnley-Ungar said.
“She knows when she’s working, she knows when she’s not.”
Hobbies include digging holes and stealing tomatoes off the vine.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.