community-based veterinary social work
Neighborhood Pets Outreach and Resource Center in Slavic Village
Working at the Mezzo/Community Level: Neighborhood Pets Outreach and Resource Center. Neighborhood Pets offers low-cost veterinary services for qualifying residents who live in Cleveland and East Cleveland. This community veterinary social work role is one of the most essential - providing support and services that keep people with their pets. My fieldwork (2025) at Neighborhood Pets involved a range of activities, from surveying clients in the Outreach and Resource Center, to tabling out in the community (pictured at left, at Seeds of Literacy). Specifically, my projects included: creating and conducting the Client Human Needs Survey, identifying priority needs of NP clients; launched the Quality of Life Impact survey to assess the impact of NP on pet ownership and human health and well-being; assist with planning for 2025 Health and Safety Fair, coordination of community partners, and creation of flyer to advertise the fair.
Elevating the work of Neighborhood Pets to a National Level. Nomination of Neighorhood Pets for Human Animal Bond Research Insitute for invitation only meeting and the 2025 Innovation Award. I research and drafted a proposal that resulted in the invitation of Neighborhod Pets to the invite-only Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) Spring Policy Forum (May 14, 2025), and drafted and submitted a proposal and materials to nominate the organization for a Public Service Innovation Award -- which resulted in their receipt of the award, and the elevation of their work to a national level (see photo below). Creating and Conducting a De-Escalation Seminar with Neighborhood Pets Staff and Leadership. I created an hour-long seminar, which included conducting an interactive focus group with Neighborhood Pets staff on unique elements of the “DANCE” (identified by Spitznagel et al 2023) that they encounter (different from private veterinary clinics) at Neighborhood Pets Outreach and Resource Center. The presentation also included information from The American Animal Hospital Association’s De-Escalation Strategies (Part 1 and Part 2), focusing on levels of client anger, as well as strategies to help manage client anger. Thank you Neighborhood Pets Outreach and Resource Center for welcoming me into your client-first, community-grown, and welcoming organization! |
Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter (CCAS): Monthly Pet Food Pantry Prep
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Volunteering at the monthly Pet Food Pantry Prep session. CCAS provides emergency pet food to applicants via their Pet Food Pantry Program. On March 7th, my VSW capstone colleague and I, Michael, helped to prepare CCAS customer orders for the pet food pantry pickup on March 9th (drive thru) and March 10th (indoor). Recipients have to apply to receive pet food and commit to picking up their monthly order (3 no-shows and clients are removed from the list). All told, we pulled and prepped 170 orders, averaging around 15 pounds of pet food (dog and cat, wet and dry) and organized the orders for efficient pickup at the shelter. The CCAS both receives donations from the community and also purchases food for the monthly Pet Pantry. Halie Rickman, 4-H Alumni and CCAS Deputy Dog Warden, also provided a tour of the facility and explained the animal welfare ecosystem in the county. Thank you Halie for welcoming us into the CCAS and for all the work you do!
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Robin, Halie and Michael
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