An ongoing initiative involving the Calgary Urban Project Society (CUPS) and the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine continues to allow students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience while providing low income Calgarians with access to free vet services.
Dr. Serge Chalhoub, a veterinary clinical and diagnostic sciences instructor, says the experience is invaluable for everyone involved.
“Our program is a four-year doctor of veterinary medicine program. (The students) don’t get out to clinics until their fourth year,” said Chalhoub. “With this (CUPS) program, we get them out to see real clients, real pets in their third year at the same time as providing a community outreach, a no-cost veterinary clinic for members of CUPS and their pets.”
Candace Clarke and her cat Kaia were among the participants in the pop-up vet clinic at the CUPS facility in the Belline.
“The veterinary clinic is nice because not everybody can afford the pet bills to make sure their animals are healthy,” said Clarke. “It’s definitely not cheap for low income people to have pets and some of us absolutely need them.”
Clarke says Kaia is a member of her family who helps her get through the day-to-day struggles she faces. Kaia was expected to have her heart murmur evaluated, her nails clipped and to receive her necessary shots during Thursday's visit. Clarke says the free clinic saved her a significant amount of money. “Probably about $300 alone just on the vet visit.”
The five days of the pet wellness clinic initiative began on Monday and will conclude Friday afternoon. Chalhoub says, in the three years of the initiative at CUPS, roughly 150 pets have received free veterinary care.
“These are owners that care an extremely big amount about their pets,” said Chalhoub. “They’ll provide anything they can to their pets and their pets are an extremely important part of their family.”
Rebecca Chermishnuk of CUPS says the free clinic is in high demand and not every pet can be accomodated. “This year we were only able to do five days, we normally do six, but it’s not enough,” said Chermishnuk. “I have a waiting list of 30 or 40 names that just couldn’t be seen but need to be seen.”
Chermishnuk adds the contributions of pets to the lives of CUPS participants are immense. “(Pets) give you so much mental and emotional support and unconditional love,” said Chermishnuk. “A lot of people will feed or pay for their animals before they take care of themselves.”
In addition to the assessments and vaccinations conducted at the temporary clinic, pet owners receive advice on nutrition and how to care for their animals.
On Thursday, third-year veterinary students Kelsey Kearns and Alan Glassman had their first opportunity to participate in the clinic.
“I think it’s really good to be able to reach out to our community and help people that really need it and their animals,” said Kearns.
Glassman said he was excited by the opportunity to interact with, and work alongside, real pet owners as opposed to classroom scenarios.
“We see a lot of the animals, we work with a lot of animals and a lot of the job is really working with people and listening to concerns and working on professional communications,” said Glassman. “One of the biggest things we can do to help out people, and really get really good care of the animals, is to listen and work with a person for the best treatment plan possible.”
Despite the popularity of the free clinic amongst the students, instructors and pet owners, at present there are no plans to expand the initiative outside of its single week of available appointments each year.
