Service Animal Policy and Guidelines
Required Documentation
The following documentation must be provided for the service animal:
Clinical Necessity: Documentation from a physician, psychiatrist, or a licensed mental health or social work professional, stating that the animal is required (not recommended) to provide support that alleviates at least one of the individual’s identified symptoms or effects of their disability.
Health Records: Documentation that all vaccinations, flea medications, and tick medications for the animal are current. Dogs must have had the general maintenance vaccine series, including vaccinations against rabies, distemper, and parvovirus. Animals must wear a rabies vaccination tag when required by law.
Licensing: The animal must comply with all local licensing requirements, and the current license must always be present on the animal.
All copies of this documentation will be placed in the patient’s record, and a progress note will document that it was obtained and filed. For employees, interns, or volunteers seeking similar accommodations, documentation will be placed in their respective personnel files.
Requirements for Handlers and Partners
The care and supervision of a service animal is solely the responsibility of its partner or handler. Florida Springs staff will not provide physical care, feeding, or supervision for the animal.
Leash and Control: The animal must be on a leash with a harness or tether at all times. If the handler is unable to use a harness, leash, or tether due to a disability, or if it interferes with the animal’s safe performance of work, the animal must otherwise be under the handler’s strict control using voice control, signals, or other effective means.
Cleanup Rule: Handlers must always carry supplies sufficient to clean up the animal’s feces. Waste must be properly disposed of by flushing or double bagging feces and placing it in an outside trash bin. As a courtesy to patients, visitors, and staff, the animal must be taken outdoors for toileting, and solid waste must be cleaned up immediately. Handlers who physically cannot clean up after their animal due to a disability are not required to do so, but they must make alternative arrangements to ensure immediate cleanup.
Feeding and Care: The handler must provide the animal with adequate and appropriate food, water, and other necessary care, or make arrangements through others to do so.
Criteria for Removal from Premises
An animal may be excluded or asked to leave Florida Springs properties under the following circumstances:
Disruption: If an animal is unruly or disruptive (such as barking, running around, or bringing attention to itself), the handler may be asked to remove it. If the behavior happens repeatedly, the animal may be barred until significant steps are taken to mitigate the behavior, such as professional refresher training or muzzling a barking animal.
Behavior: An animal may be excluded if its behavior poses a threat to the health or safety of others, including displaying threatening or vicious behavior.
Ill Health: Service animals that are ill should not be taken into public areas, and the handler may be asked to leave the property with the animal.
Uncleanliness: Handlers with animals that are unclean, noisy, or appear unkempt may be asked to leave. Animals that are wet from weather or shedding their seasonal coats will be considered clean if they are otherwise well-groomed.
Any determination that a service animal poses a direct threat will be based on an individualized assessment of the specific animal’s actual conduct, not on fears, stereotypes, generalizations, or specific breeds.
Areas of Access and Restrictions
Service animals are permitted in areas of Florida Springs properties that have unrestricted access, provided their presence does not pose a threat or result in a fundamental alteration of services, operations, or safe facilities.
Restricted Areas: There are no normally identified restricted areas, though construction, repair, or renovation zones may occasionally be designated as unsafe for normal traffic.
Alternative Arrangements: If an individualized assessment determines a service animal cannot remain in a residential or outpatient area, the patient will be offered the option of having family, friends, or another person remove the animal so the patient may remain and continue receiving services.
Allergies and Phobias: If a patient or staff member has a phobia or allergy to animals, Florida Springs will modify its policies to accommodate both parties (for example, by moving a patient to another comparable room or changing staff schedules). Any person requesting accommodation due to an allergy must provide verification within a reasonable timeframe of the request.
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