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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Jack Stephens, Scott Shields
Aired July 21, 2002 - 10:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A search and rescue dog who helped locate survivors after the World Trade Center attacks will have his medical bills covered after all. Bear suffers from skin cancer and neurological problems. Veterinary Pet Insurance had previously denied Bear coverage. But now the dog's medical bills will be paid.
From Los Angeles, the CEO and founder of Veterinary Pet Insurance, Dr. Jack Stephens, joins us with Skeeter. Hello to you both. And in New York, Scott Shields, along with Bear, of course. Good to have all four of you with us this morning.
Dr. Stephens, just lay it out for us. What changed? How did you change your view? Why did you change your view on helping Bear get out of his troubles?
DR. JACK STEPHENS, VPI, SKEETER FOUNDATION: Yes. When we offered free policies to all the canine heroes at 9/11, we did so with the intention that every dog will have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) insurance. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I found out that five of the dogs did not receive insurance because the medical conditions normally would prevent that. We reversed that decision within hours. All (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so now all 94 dogs will receive insurance.
And, furthermore, the medical bills that Bear incurred, which really predated our offer of insurance, going way back into November, will be covered by the Skeeter Foundation. We have a nonprofit foundation named after my pal here, Skeeter. And Skeeter will be paying Bear's medical bills that predate the insurance offer.
O'BRIEN: So Skeeter's got some deep pockets there. That's good to hear. Scott, are you happy?
SCOTT SHIELDS: Well, not completely. Right now on $3,000 worth of bills from the Skeeter Foundation, we have received $1,700. What people don't know is that I refused to take payment for Bear's bills until the rest of the search and rescue dogs were covered, and this is $1,700 out of $3,000. The North Shore Animal League promised to pay all of Bear's bills and start a foundation in his name to make sure that search and rescue teams are equipped and that their health care is taken care of forever.
There are only about 400 dogs in the country, and that's really what it was about.
O'BRIEN: So this is not enough then, what Dr. Stephens is offering?
SHIELDS: Well, Dr. Stephens is living up to his word, eventually. But right now I'm sitting with a check -- they had $2,993 worth of bills -- and, once again, out of the foundation we've received $1,700. And that's good.
But this was about everybody. This was about all the search and rescue teams, the men and women and their dogs. And this was about taking care of them the way Dr. Stephens' company had presented themselves. And they didn't do this until the press -- until the national press had clobbered them. And this is good, but there's more coming.
O'BRIEN: Let me just try to decipher what you're saying there. There seems like a bit of ingratitude is in here.
SHIELDS: Oh, no, I'm very -- I'm very gracious, but this is half of the bills they were presented with.
O'BRIEN: Right. Dr. Stephens, how do you respond to what Scott just said?
STEPHENS: Well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Shields received a letter that said that we're sending $1,700, for which we had receipts. And if he would present the other bills, we'd be happy to pay those, too.
SHIELDS: Well, they were presented ahead of time. They've been presented for the last six months. Bear was never sick a day -- excuse me. Bear was never sick a day in his life until March, and Bear had a wound that was not previous to the World Trade Center. He got a wound on his back that turned cancerous, and your company could not see that that was part of the service...
STEPHENS: If I may...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Go ahead, doctor.
STEPHENS: Thank you. If I can just get through the filibustering here. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bills we offered to pay him, but even more important here is two things. One is there's over 100 other dogs that we made our free offer of insurance to that have not yet responded. And we'd like for them, if they want the free insurance, to step forward.
And even more important, we found out only Friday from Mr. Shields that he's been spending close to nine months going to every other organization. We had assumed...
SHIELDS: I have not gone to any other organization.
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHENS: ... would be paying the bills. And Veterinary Pet Insurance Skeeter Foundation had offered to help... SHIELDS: Veterinary Pet Insurance has known for five months.
(CROSSTALK)
SHIELDS: Veterinary Pet Insurance has known for five months. Your people refused payment last week. I told them I was going to press for all the dogs.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Scott, let me just ask you...
SHIELDS: You are president of the company, you're not responsible for what your people did. And I know you did the right thing. But your people were acting like an insurance company previously. So you owned up to it.
O'BRIEN: Well, Scott, let me just ask you this, though: Haven't there been any number of other sources that have offered to help out in this case?
SHIELDS: Only after the press got involved. I went to FEMA. FEMA didn't want to help. Red Cross is thinking about it. But now, the Skeeter Foundation has come through for half of it, and I hope they come through for all the other dogs. There are actually over 200 other dogs that Veterinary Pet Insurance hasn't heard from. But this is about all the dogs. It's not about Bear.
O'BRIEN: Dr. Stephens, are you prepared to make a vow that any of the dogs that have been involved in the World Trade Center search and rescue effort will be in one way or another helped out?
STEPHENS: Oh, yes, we have. And our foundation, although it's only been in existence for a couple of hours, have limited means. We'll find the means through either our foundation or other help to help, but we were totally unaware that medical bills predating our offer (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the pets. And I think this is a tragedy. A tragedy that the Skeeter Foundation and Veterinary Pet Insurance is going to absolutely provide the coverage for those pets if they have that financial need. And if the other organizations won't, we will.
O'BRIEN: Dr. Stephens, are you at all upset at the tactics here, I guess? You're under a great deal of pressure to come through with the money now.
STEPHENS: Well, no. No. Our intention always -- we didn't seek publicity in the first place when we gave away these policies to the dogs, that was not our intention. We were never aware that the dogs -- the canine heroes of 9/11 needed medical (UNINTELLIGIBLE) predating our offer.
The thing that bothered me was it was portrayed that denied (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there was never a policy. And medical bills predating our offer...
SHIELDS: The bills were not predating your offer. That's nice to say on the national media, but back it up. They weren't predating your offer. They weren't predating your offer.
STEPHENS: I can back that up. I can back that up.
O'BRIEN: Well, unfortunately, I have no way of independently verifying either one of these. Scott, you're not willing to say all's well that ends well here?
SHIELDS: Well, I'm willing to say that the boss knows what's the right thing to do, but his people were not as kind and not as generous. This is coming out of his private foundation, and he is doing the right thing, but his people were not acting in the same way.
O'BRIEN: Let me...
SHIELDS: Until they -- until they got national press.
O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Stephens, you have a final thought?
STEPHENS: Well, I'd just like to say that the VPI Skeeter Foundation is a foundation of Veterinary Pet Insurance, it is not mine. And we tried to do the right thing, not seeking publicity, gave away free policies. We'd like to give away more free policies to those heroes, and we will also pledge that we will help with any financial assistance, if they need -- that predate our offer of insurance.
O'BRIEN: And Scott, just a final word for you. How is Bear doing?
SHIELDS: Bear's -- Bear's weak. I mean, a lot of people here at CNN know and love Bear for years, but Bear's doing OK and he'll get over this too.
O'BRIEN: All right. Scott Shields, Dr. Jack Stephens, Bear, Skeeter, thank you all four of you for being with us on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
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