Hi, and welcome to the Animal Welfare Junction. This is your host, Dr. G, and our music is written and produced by Mike Sullivan. On a previous podcast, we discussed the importance of pet friendly housing and vet care for individuals experiencing housing difficulties, as well as those in need of assistance due to domestic violence and life events that can result in the inability to care for a pet. So today we're talking with our friends at Columbus Humane about a service they're offering to the community to assist both the individuals and pets when there is financial instability and need for assistance. So our guests today are Rachel Finney and Dr. Laura Advent. So welcome both to the Animal Welfare Junction.

Thank you for having us. Thank you.

So to get started, let's just start sharing your individual stories with our listeners. How about Rachel, you start us off with your background and kind of what has led you to where you are today.

Sure. Um, I went to Indiana university and studied political science, psychology, sociology of business and nonprofit management and wound up going with nonprofit management. My entire career has been in nonprofit organizations and I started out working with homeless. people and those experiencing poverty in South Central Indiana. I've worked with families whose children needed organ and tissue transplants and ultimately wound up working in animal welfare way back in 2003. So 20 years now, uh, five years as an executive director at the Union County Humane Society started my career in animal welfare. And then I've been with Columbus Humane for 15.

And that's where I met you, uh, like what, like 16, 17 years ago was at the Union County Humane Society. So it's been, it's been a long journey. So, Dr. what can, huh? Sorry. Go ahead.

Uh, it has been a long journey. Some days are longer than others.

So, Dr. Advent, what can you tell us about your journey to veterinary medicine and kind of what has led you to be part of the Columbus Humane team?

Yes, so, um, I went to Ohio State University for my undergrad. I did do my master's in public health there as well. And then I went on to vet school at Ohio State, graduated in 2017. Shortly after I took a position in general practice down in Circleville. And that was really eye opening for me and helped me see a different part of veterinary medicine was pretty rural. Um, and so the, the patient and clientele and their needs were very different than what you see in the big city. Um, I kind of continued to do some contract work for different rural parts of the state. And then I ended up at Columbus Humane in 2018, and I have been here ever since. I've been here a little over five years. Um, and love it. It's been amazing. So now we're fully involved in shelter medicine and then our newest venture into access to care.

I love that you bring up the importance of affordable and accessible care, especially to rural facilities, because that's the majority of what we do in the Rascal Unit, right, is just bring the care. Because we don't think about the not just the inability of people to afford things, but just the access in general, right? You can have all the money in the world, but if the facilities are not available, then it doesn't matter. So we're here primarily to discuss this new venture, which is the essential care center and kind of what services are offered. What can you tell us about what the purpose of it is?

So the essential care center really has 3 primary areas of programming. The 1st is a heavily subsidized veterinary care. So we're providing wellness services like spay neuter and vaccines and parasite prevention testing. But we're also offering low cost, sick and injured care because you see, this is a huge area of need in our metropolitan community. Second area of programming is pet food assistance. So we offer pet food and supplies to families who need some supplemental assistance, providing nutritious food and supplies to their pets. And the 3rd area of programming is actually about workforce development, because we really see that a critical shortage in veterinary support staff is a big contributor to. for access to care in our community. So many practices in our area are short staffed and aren't able to accommodate all of their clients or the people who are seeking care. And if we want to provide more care and access for our community, the answer is not simply opening a clinic that could serve all of the folks in our community. It really is trying to help our partner veterinary clinics, you know, rise to meet that demand. We can't do it alone. And so our workforce development program is really about training veterinary assistants to hopefully inspire and connect them with a path towards their registered veterinary technician certifications and licensing. Um, so we're really trying to do, uh, access to care, but, but approach it in a way that we're sort of wrapping around all of the different types of needs. It's not one solution. That's going to get us where we need to be. And so we tried to be really comprehensive and bring it all under 1 proof. I also have a social worker at the central care center, um, to try to help connect people with those multiple services.

That's really important because we are experiencing the veterinary shortage, but then staffing shortage, and there's a lot of problems with the, the volume of animals that need care and the inability of services are practices to provide services, and that increases compassion fatigue. It increases the number of people leaving. the veterinary business just because you know you just feel like if you can't help what are you doing and you just go somewhere else and then that just increases the the problem so overall why do you feel that this care center is important to the community like what are you trying to solve I really feel like

there are so many animals in our community that don't just need an advocate. You know, we think about advocating for homeless animals and making sure they have a voice. A lot of animals in our community have a voice, they have an advocate, and that family just doesn't have access. They're already motivated and inspired to provide great care to their pets. They don't need someone to tell them they should get veterinary care. They need access to it and to be able to afford it. So the essential care center is really just furnishing access to what people already want, but don't have the resources to accomplish on their own. They need some help. So, you know, providing low cost veterinary care. Is such a critical need in our community. They're just particularly for sick and injured care. You know, you can find reduced cost. They neuter or vaccinations, especially if you're willing to wait for it. You know, there's there's a backlog and a high demand, but you really cannot find low cost that can injure care. And so that was a primary focus for us in this facility is how do we get people access to what they already want and need and value.

I visited a place that is primarily a human service place that provides pet care and you guys are more of an animal place facility that kind of helps with the with the people side of it. So how can people support your facility?

I think it's so important to acknowledge that people in this equation, right? Animal welfare organization. Yes, of course we are, but we're also a human services agency. Part of that is that social work component of course, but it's really acknowledging that pets are family and if we want everyone to be healthy and successful and have those relationships built on respect and resource that we need to be able to provide care for the whole family. One of my favorite things about the essential care center's programming that hasn't yet launched it will likely in the new calendar year. It's a one health clinic with partners at the Ohio State University College of Nursing as well as College of Social Work and College of Veterinary Medicine. Um, we'll be hosting on site a nurse practitioner that will be able to provide a human healthcare screening while our team provides that veterinary clinic screening for the animals. And it's just recognition that if we want to be healthy, we need to do it together. And so finding ways to invite people into this animal welfare organization and really make sure that we're meeting their needs as well.

Social work is super important. I interviewed Alicia Kennedy, who is a social hearted veterinarian in Australia, and she deals primarily with elderly patients, but just anybody that has financial difficulties. And it just shows the importance of that human animal bond and the importance of taking care of the animal and and the person because if we don't take care of the person and the animal by default is going to suffer. Right. So, Dr. Advent, how do you feel about the importance of that, of maintaining that human animal bond and then with the fact that you guys mentor students Teaching the students that come in about the importance of helping these animals and helping the community

Yeah, I think you know, obviously it's it's critical kind of what Rachel said, a lot of the clientele we're seeing both at the shelter and over at our essential care center are people who are experiencing a lot of different Stressors or traumas or major life events. And they are just trying to do what they can for their animal, just like a small step. But for them, their animal may be all they have. Um, so we see a lot of people in really dire strains. They're homeless, um, their house burned down. Um, they've lost their job and all they have is their dog or their cat. Um, and they mean everything to them. And so, What I can provide for that client is really good care, but not, you know, that's accessible to them. That doesn't bankrupt them. Um, and they can feel like they're doing something really good and strengthen that bond for them while also showing some compassion and care for the person to, um, you know, a huge part of me in exposing other veterinarians or students or whoever we welcome into our space is just And You have to care about the person with the animal, um, and don't just think about it and how can I help this animal, but how can I help this person? Um, so we see a lot of people who have, you know, a lot of cats and it's like, well, you know, are there other ways in which I can help you? Do you need access to food? Um, are you a little overwhelmed? Do you need access to spay neuter services? Do you need access to maybe surrendering some of your your population, things like that. But how do we help the person in addition to helping the animal? That's really critical to success, not just for that, that human animal bond, but for our community as well.

I graduated a long time ago. I graduated in 99. And back then there was, uh, kind of like a wide range of things that were made accessible to owners. And little by little, we shifted into this whole mentality of gold standard of care in which a lot of students now feel that if they don't offer everything that they are not providing proper care and we need to kind of take that back and understand what actually, you know, meeting people where they're at is more feasible and should be what we're offering. How do you help the students understand that, you know, you don't have to do a CT for every patient that comes in with with an ear infection, how you can provide good care to animals without, as you say, bankrupting the client or making it feasible for them to offer the service.

Yeah, I will say it is a hard mindset to break in some of these students because it's all they've been exposed to for many is, you know, what they would do at a university where they have all of these, you know, fancy tools and medical treatments provided to them. Um, so it, it, it is sometimes a hard mindset to break, but that's where my shelter background I think is really helpful. Um, I am used to practicing resource driven care for a large volume of animals, and so, um, What I love doing and I'm really passionate about is teaching that to veterinary students, um, or new graduates about how you can be resource conscious and still provide a really good quality of care. And so it's getting them to, to change the way that they think about things. Um, you know, they're just like, Oh, I want to run blood work, but it's like, but why, what are you getting out of that? What does that help you with in terms of treatment or how you're going to address this animal? Um, Getting them really to think through what they're doing. Why are they're choosing to run a test? Why are they're choosing to give a medication and oftentimes you see the light bulbs go off and they're like, yeah, I actually don't know why I'm running that test or why I'm doing that thing. And, um, you know, helping them be like, well, what about this? What about this option? Um, And so sometimes their, their default is, Oh, you know, I don't know. Let's send it to a specialist. And like, well, they're not going to have money for that. So what is, what is plan B? How can we provide good care to this animal and pain and suffering for this animal, but also within this person's financial means, and maybe they don't really have anything else other than what they paid for in, in this appointment. Um, I think that is a big reason why we went with fixed pricing for the essential care center. Okay. Is I wanted the veterinarian to practice over there to feel like they could provide really good quality of care regardless of the financial situation of the client. So with the fixed pricing, you know, it's, it's one flat fee and that gets you access to the veterinarian that gets you an exam that gets you any diagnostics or medical treatment that the veterinarian feels like is essential to providing good quality care. Um, I think too often there is a myth that low cost care is substandard. And I don't like that. And I don't agree with that. And so we're trying to also kind of bust that myth a little bit and that. Just because it's low cost doesn't mean that it's poor quality care. We can still do really high quality care at a lower price.

And that's how also we practice, right? We are doing that's what I like to change from high volume sterilization to high quality, high volume sterilization, because there needs to be that understanding that just because you're able to, uh, take advantage of of proper budgeting and moving money properly, right? You can still offer high quality service at a low cost and explaining this to the students is just monumental. We have students and we have had, uh, Associate veterinarians that have that mentality of well, this needs to be referred. You know, it has a eye problem It needs to go to an ophthalmologist. It has this and some people don't understand some students don't understand that we are it We are the referral we are where they came from because perhaps they went to uh, Regular veterinarian that and they paid for an examination and they were offered a list of things and it was too expensive and they are going to come into a low cost facility just because it's the last ditch effort. So we have to learn to work with them. I like the idea of like, Ohio State has a spectrum of care and they're trying to change that mentality, but I think it's going to be a long time to to get people to change from where. From where they've been going to. How do you help as far as, when a person comes in, let's say that even the, the cost of what you're offering is not enough, or they need additional stuff. How do you assist with, with those situations?

So those are some things that are challenging, right? Because our, our clinic, we wish it could do everything, but it can't. So, um, we wish we could do emergency services or orthopedic surgeries or some of these things that people are seeking. We just, we just can't. Um, and so we're trying to focus on what we know we can do really well, um, and improve access to care, but we acknowledge that we don't, we can't do everything. Um, and so having really good partnerships within our clinic that we can help refer out, um, Is really important and also just setting expectations for that client working through what are the different options look like? How do we get you set up for success? You and you and your animal? Um, but we know that we aren't going to be the answer for everybody. And so it's just helping that unique situation and that client and that patient, you know, how can we help you? And so we never want to say no to somebody like, Oh, no, we're not the answer. We're not going to help you. It's like, well, maybe we aren't the best person to help you, but let me find the Let me find how we can help you or who can help you best. Um, we don't want anybody to leave our facility at either location and feel like they weren't helped in some capacity. So, um, I won't say I have a straight answer as to how we help everybody with everything, but we try to be creative and solutions oriented. And it's like, okay, well, maybe I can hook you up here or do this, um, put you in connection with this person or this clinic. I know this. facility does this at a lower cost. Um, so really just trying to be creative, solutions oriented and finding unique ways to say yes to people, even if we aren't the answer.

I just want to follow up on that. We may not be able to do the complex procedure that's necessary for that individual patient, but we can do the exam. We can do the diagnostics to give them that diagnosis. Right? And so the, the very low cost fixed upfront cost to get that information is really helpful. So it can, it can diminish some of the expense of going to another facility. So, yeah, we might have to refer it out. Maybe we didn't solve that for every. Patient, but what we can do at a low cost is going to help them be more successful, at least have the information about what's next so they can make an informed decision.

And another concept that is really difficult to talk about, but it's like the, when euthanasia may be the answer, right? And I think that social workers can play a very important part in helping with individuals, both with the decision process, as well as with the acceptance and the, and the aftermath that comes after having to euthanize a pet. So how do you see you guys dealing with those situations?

The social work component is so important and. Helping guide people through informed and compassionate decision making is so critical. If you know that your pet is struggling and you're trying to figure out how can you relieve that suffering or set them up for health with whatever fixed resources are there, to have someone guide you through that decision making process and support you through it and the follow up for it is a really important part of the work that we're doing. There's this, um, sometimes mindset, particularly for animal people kind of use air quotes there, right? It's all about the animal and what's in the best interest of the animal, but it is always about what's in the best interest of both. And we need to have. Um, sometimes difficult conversations about quality of life, not just for the animal, but also quality of life for the person, you know, behavioral euthanasia, for example, what people are trying to manage just to have basic day to day interactions with their animal or out in the community with their pet. You know, we need to be a resource to help guide people through those difficult decisions.

And I like that because yeah, let's bring the concept of behavioral euthanasia. I mean, it is a health condition, right? It's a mental health condition. And we have to think about the fact of the safety of the owners of the individuals. But we also have to think about the overall well being of that animal, you know, an animal that is aggressive, that is living in fear. It's not, it's not well being. So we have to make decisions that are best. And that is a place where I think the combination of the veterinarian. And the social worker can help an owner navigate through that really, really difficult decision and make it and eliminate the guilt out of it, right? Because we always feel guilty when we have to make a decision of euthanasia, but it should not be guilty because we are making a decision that is that is best for them. The other concept is the ability to care because we may be able to see a patient and come up with a diagnostic and come up with a treatment, but we have to take into consideration the human's ability to provide set care. Uh, 1 of the examples that I always bring up is diabetes, right? Okay. So we diagnosed a cat with diabetes and okay, here's some insulin 1st, the cost of the insulin, but 2nd, the ability of the individual to to administer it. And that's something that Dr. Kennedy had discussed about part of her program is trying to figure out ways that we can. Help with the ability for people to offer care. So, for instance, providing somebody that can visit a home to walk an animal or to give medications or something like that. Do you foresee your program having kind of like a volunteer service or something that helps people administer the care that their animals may provide?

That would be awesome. Uh, you know, we have to start by walking or maybe crawling before walking and running. Uh, you know, we have grand visions for what a central care center could be and will be, but we have to get really good and very efficient at doing what we're doing now before we expand services. Because the worst thing would to be trying to offer everything and do all of it a little poorly, right. Or not be able to follow through. And one of the, one of the really key. Ways that we can keep things affordable is to do a high volume of those services. And for us to do a high volume of anything, we have to be really good at it and really efficient at it. So, um, in terms of helping people in the home setting, we're having discussions with one organization that works with a homebound population that has a lot of pets and they utilize volunteers to help with transportation and support services. For the humans, and we were starting to have conversations or how could we extend that to essential care center clients who maybe have some challenges and either implementing treatments like you're talking about, or or transportations to and from the clinic. Is that kind of creative partnerships that we need to have to be able to, to reach as many people and pets as possible. So definitely opens a collaboration of all kinds, but, but being realistic about what we can accomplish, especially as we get started.

A lot of veterinarians have that, that issue with when the client comes in and cannot afford things and, uh, the concept of referral and that kind of stuff. So how can the. local practices, like any veterinarians that are listening to this podcast, how can they benefit from you guys facility?

That's a good question. You know, I, I think there was some hesitation for us too, when we originally started this, that, that local practitioners were going to feel like we were trying to, to steal their clients or that we were, you know, offering something lower, undercut them in some way. And what we really found is just, there's this enormous need in our community. And. General practices are just they're so busy. They can't they can't even address it on their own. Right? So, um, there are people who are at their doors and calling their phones constantly trying to access care and they're struggling to see the amount of patients that they already have established. And so, um, the feedback we've gotten is, oh, thank you for doing this. And thank you for opening this clinic because you know, they're drowning in work and trying to see as many patients as they can and do what they can, but you know, they're, they're struggling to even get new clients in for weeks or months. And so overwhelmingly the feedback has been, thank you for. For opening this clinic and in trying to help this population. Um, you know, kind of the feedback we can give to local practitioners is that we're here. We're a resource. Um, how can we help them? So if they have unique situations where maybe they have a client who has come to them with, um, that needs a dental or it needs spay neuter services, and they can't afford their, you know, um, What it is there. I hope they're open and willing to be able to refer to us. Um, we are part of the community and all of the general practices in our community are also part of the community. We want to work together and I think that's critical that we are partners in this and we work together and we communicate well and we refer to one another and acknowledge that, you know, each practice has its place and it, you know, has its thing that it does best. Um, and so I hope kind of how we can help local practices is just that we are a resource for their clientele as well. Um, and let us help you and find ways we can help you. And then we'll do the same back. Right. And so the things that we can't help or treat, you know, refer their way to, it's to get them care, but really being partners in our community.

And 2 other things I would say we offer to our partner clinics, veterinary assistance as part of our Rachel Ray Foundation pathways to careers in animal health. Yeah. Clinics can participate by hosting students for their 90 hour on the job training. As part of their curriculum, and then they have the first opportunity to make an offer to that that student. So we want our clinics to be well staffed and it was a huge driver for our programming. So definitely take advantage of hosting students posting opportunities at your clinics to the students who are graduating. That's an enormous partnership opportunity. The 2nd thing that I would say is. If you have a client who has prescription food for their pet that they cannot afford, please check with the essential care center because we frequently get donated prescription diets that of course we cannot distribute. To, um, to clients that don't have a prescription for it. And so we have in our warehouse right now, you know, hundreds, if not more than thousands of pounds of prescription diet. So if you have a client who needs a particular diet and they're struggling to afford it, please send them our way. And we would love to get them that food free of cost.

That is fantastic, 'cause as a veterinarian. I mean, I see that right. We'll see the cat with the urinary problems and we tell them this is the best diet for you. And they're like, well, we, I can't afford that because I can get a 10, 50 pound bag of this. Whereas the bag that you're telling me is 30 dollars for an 8 pound bag. So that is a, that is a great service for, for the community. You brought up the dentals, which I think is such an important service because so many animals suffer from horrible dental disease, and there's not a lot of good options, especially if there's not a good. a lot of good low cost dental options. So in addition to that, it's like what, what overall are the services that the facility can offer?

Sure. So from an appointment base wellness and preventative services for both your dog and your cat, um, our wellness service bundles give you all of your core vaccines. Um, you get dewormer, you get, um, for dogs, heartworm tests, you get one month of flea and tick medication and heartworm prevention. So really providing all around comprehensive care with that wellness visit. Um, we also, with our sick and injured care, see, you know, what we would classify almost as urgent care. That's kind of how we want people to think of us when it comes to sick and injured care. So, you know, you woke up and your cat is sneezing and has boogers, or, um, maybe your dog is limping all of a sudden, or it's having, you know, Some vomiting and diarrhea and things like that. Um, for surgical services, really, we're focusing on spay and neuter and dentals as our big things. We're also offering some mass removals. Um, in addition, and I think something really unique that we're doing in particular with Mass removals is, um, histopathology or or, um, is included in the price. So we see that often where they can afford maybe to get the mass removed, but not actually have the testing done to find out what it is. And that impacts care. And so that's included all in the price. So, again, really important for us that if you can get in our building and have access to that care, then I want to give you the best of what I've got without you having to pay more.

I love that because that's something that we do as well is biopsy. histopathology is not an option. Because a lot of individuals think of it as well. If it's cancer, I'm not going to do anything about it. Well, that's not the only purpose of it. And it doesn't fail that people will say that. But then 3 months later, something happens and then they wonder what it was. Right? So there's there's a lot of benefits to knowing not just I'm not going to do anything if it is cancer. So what are what are the costs that people can expect when they come to the facility?

So for our wellness services for dogs, including that heartworm test, it's just 55. So they pay that 55 when they walk in the door. And then all of those things happen afterwards are, you know, wellness bundles for cats are there in the 30s and the 50s as well, depending on whether or not we're doing viral testing for that cat. Um, our sick and injured services have just two price points, 60 for urinary issues, for eye, um, eye infections, respiratory infections, for, um, help me out here, are we

Lameness, exams, um, and then our upper tier is the 120 price point, and those are things for Vomiting and diarrhea and wound care. Um, so those are really our basic price points. Um, spay and neuter, um, is pretty competitive as well. Um, not based by weight, but just, um, dog and cat. Um, and then our dentals are, there's a cleaning price and then one with extractions. Um, so we wanted to be very cognizant about with the dentals, um, That you may pull one teeth or you may be pulling 10 and again, you don't want to get into a situation where somebody can't afford. They can maybe get the dental cleaning, but not afford all of the care that's needed. So, um, really important for us to have fixed fixed pricing

there as well. Yeah, so what that means is when you come in and you pay that, say, 120 dollars for vomiting and diarrhea care, it doesn't matter. What diagnostics or medications or go home supplies that animal, um, that animal gets as a result of doctor's discretion. That price is still the same and you pay it when you walk in. So that's it. You just need to figure out how do I get that 120 for care? And then we take it from there.

Yeah, we have that similar approach as far as the dentals with the extractions, right, we have kind of like a routine cleaning minor, which is just like one or two flop teeth that come right out. And then an advance, which is however many extractions they need, because we don't want people to have to pick and choose which tooth to remove. Right, right, right, exactly. Yeah, if a tooth is damaged, and it needs to come out, it needs to come out. So it eliminates kind of like that. Right. that concern, uh, about what is the expected wait time for people to be able to get in for an appointment?

Well, we just had news, uh, right, rather significant media of our official opening. And so it's not uncommon for us to exceed 100 voicemails in just the period of time where we're on lunch. So we're really inundated right now because it's a, It's just been announced as a service to our community. Um, but really sick and injured care is going to be in the same week. And, um, hopefully the next day or two, surgery is starting to get pretty full. Uh, what we're seeing gets scheduled out and we're, you know, we're learning and we're going, this is brand new for us. So we've made some schedule changes and tweaks to try to accommodate more people throughout the week for surgery. Um, what is our lead time right now? Do you think for surgery?

So we're trying to open the schedule only a month at a time because we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and increase the risk of people not being able to show up or forget about their appointment. Um, and so we're trying to to do, you know, we have September and that's what's open right now. So I would say if people call and they can't get in within that month, check back frequently, because then we'll open up. The next month. Um, and again, we're just trying to get our feet wet. And so now that we we've got a little bit going, we know, okay, well, this is we can increase here or change this around. So we're trying to increase the amount that we're doing. Um, I would say for preventative care within the month and spay, neuter and dental, I would say probably Um, Okay. The goal is to get you in within a month or two. Um, as well, because we know that the longer we delay it, if you're open and wanting to do it, the longer we delay it, the more likely they are not to do it. Um, and so we really want to be able to offer those services and get and get animals care. So we don't want the lead time to be too long. And that's really important for us.

How can people get access to the services like what website or phone number? Like, how can they get ahold of you guys?

Yeah, Columbushumane. org is the best website and you can make appointments for wellness care right on our website and also have access to set up an appointment for food services. So if you need pet food or supplies, you can schedule that online as well. We are considering some walk in hours. We haven't implemented them yet for sick and injured care. Um, that requires a phone call to the essential care center to schedule so that we know that we've got you aligned with the right services.

A concern that some people that come to us have is that they, they need low cost resources, but they do not qualify. Right, because they're not on financial assistance, government financial assistance, and some people don't realize that being middle income doesn't mean that you have a lot of extra income, disposable income. So, do you guys have income qualifications for your services?

We do not. And it's so important, um, because when it comes down to it, your income really has very little to do with how much cash you have. Uh, you know, there's people who are overextended or who've experienced tragedy or trauma, you know, maybe they've had personal health crises or housing instability, or they are a single parent with extensive childcare expenses, and maybe they You know, could afford their pet when they got it and they can afford basic vaccines and annual care. But now the animals limping and they can't afford the services beyond that. So about 40 percent of Americans cannot afford an unexpected 400 expense. That's 40 percent of Americans. So that is, that does not mean people experiencing extreme poverty, 40 percent of Americans. So, I mean, 400 unexpected, that's pretty easy to do at a veterinary clinic. Yeah. So, um, we need to be. Flexible and open to anyone who needs our care. So we've been really forward and out front about saying this is a clinic and these are services for people who cannot afford care elsewhere. If you have an established relationship with a veterinary clinic, we want you to maintain that we want you to go to private clinics. We want you to go into all of those partners in the community. If you cannot afford care there, please come see us. There's not an income amount or, you know, you don't have to prove poverty to come in. You just simply need to say, I can't afford care elsewhere. Let's, let's get you the help that you need. Anything is. Applying for and getting access to government assistance is not a fast thing. So, even if you are someone who qualifies, it doesn't mean that you are part of one of those systems or programs. And so, for you to be card carrying that you have this means you had to kind of jump through a lot of hoops and get through a lot of barriers, even to qualify for that. And so there are many people in our community that do not have. Access to those government programs that need them. And so what I found is that we would, as an organization, be spending a lot of time, a lot of resources, sort of proving or verifying people's income when, in fact, that process really is a barrier to people who already qualify for those government services to access your care. So, you know, what are you really trying to do and making someone prove that they are poor enough to have your. Your programs or services, you may weed out 1 or 2 sort of bargain shoppers who have all the resources necessary to provide care when it comes down to it. That sort of. Scheming person who's taken advantage of your services got their cats. Diarrhea treated. Okay. I'm not, you know, if you're going to work that hard to abuse the system so that your pet can get care, I mean, okay, moving on, right? Like, who's next? Why would we work so hard and spend so much time in resource vetting people when the reward is that people are getting care for their pets? I don't, it's not worth it to me.

And I see it as well with people that have multiple animals, right, because we're experiencing a crisis with pet overpopulation, and there are so many animals in shelters, and shelters are just overextended, there are smaller rescue groups, basically hoarding animals, and it's because of the cost of animal care, I mean, it's a, it's a huge problem for people to take more animals into their home because of the cost of care, and if we can potentially assist somebody that you. Can offer a loving home and care and feed, you know, two, three dogs, if we can offer them, you know, affordable services, then I think that that is helping not just the individual and the animals, but just the overall shelter community with this huge crisis of overpopulation.

It's true. And when we look at, um, uh, clients who are utilizing our pet food assistance program, the average households that we serve has six pets. You know, if you're someone who maybe doesn't have a lot of resources, but you have a cat or a dog, you could probably figure out how to get food or, you know, vaccinations for that single animal. But if you have two or three or four or five, it's going to become increasingly more difficult. And we'll have, you know, folks who react to that and say, well, gosh, you know, they can't afford it. They shouldn't have that many animals. But then let's pause for a moment. Look how that household got six pets. Maybe, you know, the single woman had two pets and her sister and her sister's children moved in with her and they had two pets and then, um, you know, the next door neighbor went to jail and now that dog who was abandoned is part of the household and you have somebody who's really caring, really extending themselves and their resources to do the very best that they can, who absolutely see pets as their family. Why wouldn't we help that family? You know, why are they not deserving of that companionship? Why are they're, they're being incredibly resourceful and pooling, you know, their combined resources to the best they can. We should help them. It's not a matter of judgment. Um, and I'll say too, you know, all those animal people out there that are prepared to judge what you haven't gotten vaccines for your pet. You haven't gotten wellness care. You let it get this sick. this far extended, just pause for a moment. So everyone out there listening, are you up to date on your own annual exam, your personal wellness? Have you gotten your mammogram, your colonoscopy? Have you done, you know, and most people kind of get sheepish and go, well, no, I haven't. Well then what the heck? Why are you judging? Why? What are you judging? It doesn't mean you don't love yourself. If you haven't gotten your mammogram, right? Things happen. It doesn't mean that you don't love your spouse. If they, you haven't insisted that they go forward and get that colonoscopy or other screening that they need, right? We have to be kind and compassionate and realize Life is hard and there are a lot of things competing for our resources, our time and attention. And so if somebody gets to our doorstep, our first words are, wow, thank you for coming here. You are the hero, right? Like you did this, you've got your animal here, you know, let's, let's work with you. I don't, we don't have time or resources as a movement, as a profession to sit in judgment. Move on. What's happening? How are we going to help this animal? How are we going to help this person? So just check your judgment, just leave it. Yeah, sometimes

I think of like some of the people that have multiple animals, you know, as you said, like things happen. So somebody may have taken a stray and decided I'm going to give this dog a home. And then all of a sudden the dog had six puppies because it was pregnant when they got it. And they decided that they don't want to put that burden on someone else. They don't want to take the animals to the shelter. So they want to keep those animals and they have this space and the ability to, to house and care for them. But having seven animals in the house, it's super expensive, even just the general wellness, even if they're just getting core vaccines and, and nothing else. So, again, we need to think about how helping those people is helping the community in general, because that's six dogs that are not going to end up in the shelter world. That's not six dogs that are going to end up in the street. Or end up abused and abandoned and, you know, all the repercussions that come from it. So, yeah, looking at the, looking at everything without those judgment glasses and just saying, okay, I'm not here to judge you about how you got here is how can we move on and help? So, what are, what are the essential care centers short and long term goals?

In this short time, it's really to learn and grow this model, to understand it fully, to vet it, and to make sure that it's completely viable. We believe that it is. And once we have demonstrated its viability and we've become as efficient as we can be, um, and extended our resources. further out, maybe develop some more service offerings. We really see this as scalable. There's an estimated 70, 000 pets in Franklin County alone who have never seen a veterinarian. And so one facility that's offering these services is not going to be enough to meet the need, especially as our community grows with all of the expansion and new jobs and new. People moving into our community that infrastructure is not there to support all of the need. And so I think the the actual clinic itself and its programs and services is scalable, not only within Franklin County for multiple locations, but to help. Address and give a model to other communities throughout the country, because the challenges that we have in Columbus around workforce shortages or food instability or lack of access to low cost veterinary care, they are not unique to Columbus. So, once we have vetted this model, our intention is to help it grow around the country and share the tools and resources that we have with other communities.

Do you have need for volunteers and for additional staff members? And if so, how can people find out about that information?

We do utilize volunteers, um, certainly at the shelter and man, do we need more? So please raise your hands and we'd love to work with you. Um, at the essential care center right now, our volunteers are engaged in pet food distribution. So really helping us, um, manage, sort and store. donated pet food and then get it to people, um, you know, Monday through Friday and high volume vaccine clinics, um, once a month. So volunteers help us facilitate that and the future we'll have more volunteer opportunities. But again, we're learning our system, and becoming efficient. And we want to make sure we do that and streamline before we invite volunteers and so we know that we're creating a really good positive experience for them. So more news to come, but right now, um, pet food assistance is where we utilize volunteer support at the essential care center.

I wish you all the success in the world. I'm looking forward to seeing how everything grows and how everything expands because it's a really important need for the community and it is important in a lot of different communities, special rural communities. So, I'm hoping that you guys are successful and then, like, places in Southern Ohio, for instance, where there's like, just so much lack of veterinary care that places like that can develop similar systems. So, in closing, is there anything that you guys want to share that we forgot to mention or that would be important for the public to know?

Well, one thing I want to say is thank you for the work that you're doing and sharing this message across the nation and the work you're doing, particularly in rural communities in Ohio. We need more collaborations and more, uh, more professionals like yourself that are doing this work. So thank you.

Well, it was very educational, very informational, and I'm hoping that our listeners Not just the public, but also veterinarians and people in the veterinary community understand the importance of this service and how they can utilize you guys, how you guys can benefit mutually from them. So thank you again for, for being part of the, of this episode and for everybody that's listening. Thank you so much for listening and thank you so much for caring.

Thank you. Thank you.