Janet LaBreck and "Osbourne"
Stand at the corner of Boston’s Tremont and Boylston streets, near Boston Common, and you’ll be amazed at the chaos. Tourists, shoppers, office workers and street vendors mill about. Crowds of people gather to cross the intersection. When the light turns -- and sometimes even when it doesn’t (this is Boston after all) -- the pedestrians cross the street, dodging cars which totally ignore the signals. It is bedlam.
“This is why I need Osbourne,” says Janet LaBreck. “This corner is unbelievable. It’s hard to cross when you’re sighted, never mind when you’re blind.” Janet LaBreck is the commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB). Osbourne is the Fidelco guide dog with whom she was partnered last summer.
Given that the first MCB Commissioner was Helen Keller, Commissioner LaBreck fills some big shoes. After working for the MCB for more than twenty years, LaBreck was tapped by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in 2007 to oversee the agency which provides services to 36,000 Massachusetts residents who are blind.
Together, the Commissioner and Osbourne do a lot of traveling. Each day requires a 54-mile commute from her central Massachusetts home to her office in downtown Boston. Within her workday, she frequently travels across the city and, often, across the state to fulfill her duties as commissioner. When she applied to Fidelco, she told us that she needed a fast dog, as well as one who could hold his own in high level meetings and patiently endure her many public speeches without so much as a whine or whimper.
Osbourne hasn’t let her down. On the contrary, he’s garnered fans in high places. Martha Coakley, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, adores Osbourne. Her office has decided to spearhead a public awareness campaign about service dogs. State legislators and high ranking officials also fawn over Osbourne.
So does LaBreck’s husband, Russell. To hear them talk about Osbourne is like listening to new parents gush about their baby. They are amazed at his athleticism and his intelligence. They swear that he’s more clever than they are. Russell says, “We’re not teaching him, he’s teaching us.” Commissioner LaBreck marvels at how Osbourne anticipates her commands often before she has given them. “For instance, I don’t give many commands going through the Common. Osbourne is able to anticipate our destination.”
LaBreck’s office hums with activity. She gracefully fields calls from a reporter from the Boston Globe and multiple questions from staffers. While she works, Osbourne rests close beside her with his eyes closed. Don’t let his quietness fool you though. Russell calls this his “watchful waiting” and likens it to firefighters at the fire station. As soon as the alarm goes off, they are ready to work. Sure enough, when a staffer comes to ask Commissioner LaBreck for some assistance, Osbourne is up, attentive and ready for his harness.
Perhaps because she walks in Helen Keller’s footsteps, it’s not surprising that Commissioner LaBreck looks to Keller for inspiration. When addressing the New England College of Optometry as commencement speaker in 2008, she searched through Keller’s quotes to find one that spoke to her and chose this one: “One cannot consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.” Commissioner LaBreck loves the quote. She says, “It conveys the sense of opportunity and the desire to move forward, to accomplish and succeed that I see among our clients.” She explains it further, “You can’t hold people back. That quote says it all. That’s what we try to do here. We help to foster that drive and initiative.”
The Keller quote is appropriate to describe Janet LaBreck as well. She has never consented to creep. And with Osbourne beside her, she is soaring.
Greg Nickel and "Kayden"
When you talk with Greg Nickel, founder of Nickel Drumworks, his Seattle-based drum manufacturing company, you hear about ply metals, surface tension, core density and nodal points. And it’s clear that you’re talking with a focused, highly competitive business person who loves his work. It’s also obvious that he relishes his lifestyle in the northwest that includes “Kayden,” his first Fidelco guide dog.
“I love exploring on my own and Kayden’s an outdoor guy, so he’s not afraid to take off with me” Greg said. “He loves the ocean and gets excited when he hits the beach and I take off the harness. And when we take him in my kayak, he’s totally awesome. He’s a wonderful dog.”
Greg uses the phrase “the process of elimination” quite often to describe the path that his life and career have taken. When he was 14 and in the midst of becoming a very good hockey player with the potential of turning professional, he was stricken with retinitis pigmentosa. For some, this setback would have been the end of a dream and the beginning of a downward spiral into the depths of disability. But Greg is a fighter and as devastating as the loss of his eyesight was, through the process of elimination, he was able to overcome this barrier and to rebuild his passion for life by concentrating on his second love; playing drums.
“When I refocused my attention to drumming, I studied improvisational jazz.” Greg said. “I took lessons, did well and eventually went to college at the University of North Texas.” Greg was awarded one of ten scholarships that allowed him to work with Ed Soph, the legendary drum instructor.
At the end of his college career, Greg realized that to become a successful musician, touring would be a constant in his life. And it wasn’t something that he looked forward to. It was here, again using the process of elimination, that Greg made a fortuitous decision that would change his life.
“I had a part on my snare drum that was completely dysfunctional and that was the snare strainer (which helps the snare drum make its unique sound),” he said. “Before I went to college, I had designed a new type of strainer and during college, I realized it should be patented.”
After college, Greg built ten prototypes of the strainer and sent them to well-respected, professional drummers. They were a hit. He also went to a major music instrument convention and visited each drum company booth. By the end of the show, several companies were interested in his product and Greg’s snare strainer became the first product to be featured as original equipment on drums manufactured by different companies.
“I went to a bank, got a loan and started my company,” he said. “It was successful to the point where I now manufacture the strainers, as well as a line of Nickel Drums.” It was during this time that Greg also decided to get a guide dog.
“I found out about Fidelco from a friend of a friend,” he said. “I did my homework and when I found out that they train their guide dog users at home, that was it for me.” Greg received Kayden in June of this year and the new guide dog owner is extremely happy with his new partner. “What I’ve realized is that there’s a whole ‘let it go factor,’ like riding a tandem bike. It’s a matter of realizing that he’s not going to run you into anything. I also like the level of efficiency that he brings. That’s a great thing about a guide dog. If you need to get somewhere, you can.”
Over the past five years, Greg has stepped away somewhat from his drum manufacturing business. He purchased a 24,000 square foot building that houses not only Nickel Drumworks, but Sound Asylum, a large rehearsal space for musicians and Bria, an award-winning Pilates and physical therapy business owned and operated by Misty, Greg’s wife. He has also become a home builder and says, “I love the creative feeling of walking into a blank space and being able to visualize the end result.”
Although an extremely busy person, Greg maintains his enthusiasm for his life, his businesses and now, his guide dog. “There have been milestones in my life. Kayden has been a realization of the freedom I sought, not only for me but for Misty as well.” As for Kayden? He will soon be going to China when Greg travels there to inspect a new drum factory. “It will be a very interesting trip,” laughs Greg.
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Alan Gunzburg and "Fia"