Stories of Partnership: How Community Veterinary Outreach and UBC Are Leveraging the Bond Between People and Their Pets to Improve Health Access in the DTES

Can you introduce yourself and your role in the project?

Kyla:  Sure. My name is Kyla. I’m one of the co-directors of Community Vet Outreach, and I’m also a veterinarian.

Kelsi: I am Kelsi, I co-direct CVO Vancouver with Kyla, and I practice as a human health nurse.

Alex: I’m Alex. I’m one of the academic collaborators. I’m also a regular volunteer, and I work as a general practice veterinarian in Vancouver.

Lexis: I’m Lexis. I’m a PhD candidate with the University of British Columbia’s animal welfare program. I volunteered with Community Vet Outreach, since about 2021. And more recently, I’ve been popping up on the university partnership side here at UBC.

How did this project get started? Why was it important to you and what community goals are you hoping to address?

Kyla: Our mandate is to improve the health of vulnerably housed communities, through the delivery of human health services and veterinary services, through One Health clinics. So we follow a One Health model. And our goal is, we’re primarily focused on the vulnerably housed individuals and specifically here in Vancouver in the Downtown Eastside.

Could you define what the One Health model is?

Kyla: Yeah. So, One Health is a discipline, of interaction between people, animals and the environment. So, from the from a medical and from a health point of view, they are all interconnected, whether that’s human as an owner and their relationship with their pet and then their relationship with their environment in terms of the housing in which they live and or the housing they don’t live in their interactions with how the humans health can affect animal’s health and vice versa. So, instead of treating each section individually, if we treat it all as a whole and consider everything as a One Health model, we’re able to provide more effective care.

Kelsi: So, CVO Vancouver actually started in partnership with the UBC School of Nursing. While I was there, doing my fourth-year studies. So, the UBC, students –nursing students– had help set up Vancouver’s first, free veterinarian and human health clinic in partnership with CVO to address sort of the heightening health concerns and disparities in Vancouver, for marginalized populations at the start of the toxic drug crisis. So, the first clinic took place, at Direction’s youth services in December, 2016. At that time, the staff at Directions had said that we’d be lucky to get ten people come through the door with their pets.

We had over 40 people in their pets come through in a three hour period of time and receive free veterinary services such as core vaccines, spay and neuter referrals and follow up medical exams.  And then we had human health nurses there doing primary care and also offering training on how to use the take home naloxone kits that were first being distributed at the time, in response to the toxic drug crisis. And so, given the success of the first pilot clinic, there was interest on both sides between CVO and UBC to continue this partnership, offering clinics around four times a year. That is sort of what we’re doing right now.

Bringing us to where the project stands today, what have been some of the key milestones or activities as the project has progressed?

Kyla: So. Yeah, as Kelsi mentioned, the first clinic, we had 40 people. I’ve been involved since 2022; I got involved just as a vet looking to help out a little bit more. And seeing the need for for health care and for collaborative health care for these owners and their pets living in the Downtown Eastside and experiencing homelessness.

So, I got involved and since then, we have grown our clinic; we’re now seeing an average of 80 to 90 animals per clinic. Unfortunately, we’re still having to turn people away because people will line up for hours now to come. And the reason we set up in the Downtown Eastside is because we’re really trying to break down any barriers and any stigma, to help these owners feel like they can trust us. And they’re in a safe space to be able to get care for their pets. So, despite our long lines, we’ve got lots of volunteers who come and help with these exams and pairing it with the human health side just to really provide that kind of collaborative, inclusive health care model.

 Alex: Yeah. So, I first started volunteering for the CVO clinics in 2018, after I graduated from veterinary school, in 2018. The team has grown since then, to give you guys a good idea, at the clinic in 2018, there was about two vets, including myself, and we would see about 30 to 40 animals, and that would be already a lot, and nowadays, I know the most recent clinic, I think there was about 8 or 9 vets. Correct me if I’m wrong, Kyla and Kelsi, but really offering a wide variety of care, for the animals who need them. So, being able to see that growth and being able to see that positive change. A lot of the clients I see, I’ve been seeing for a couple of years now, we see them at each individual clinic.

So, it’s not something that’s just one single point in time. It’s a long-term partnership and a relationship that we develop in the community, which is super important in building trust amongst the individuals who live there.

 Lexis: When I started in 2021 as a volunteer, I was just starting out, grad school with the animal welfare program at UBC. And my work was really focused on the intersection between community level vulnerability in Vancouver or in British Columbia and relinquishment to animal shelters. And we know here in B.C. that a lot of the reasons why people have to surrender their animals to shelters are due to owner hardships. And so, volunteering with CVO was kind of a touch point for me to kind of connect with the community and see how community-based interventions can actually help people keep their pets. So, help families stay together and reduce relinquishment to animal shelters. Something that I’ve seen as progress over my time volunteering, is just out there has been so much engagement with students who want to come volunteer. So, I think that when I first started out, maybe there was a couple of us, from UBC who would come out and volunteer. And I think in our most recent clinic, we had a small army of students who, came out, which I thought was really great.

Kelsi: As I mentioned or touched on, I got involved with CVO Vancouver in its initial phases and the development in 2016. And then when I went on to graduate nursing school, I saw the need in the community and the gaps in services that existed elsewhere, in my practice. So, I wanted to continue being involved and add to the sustainability of these clinics. And then moving on, actually, in 2019, to do my master’s work, or research and evaluate the clinics and try to further understand the value that it had to the community from both the animal welfare side and human health. Which my research funding sort of just affirmed, the value that I was seeing and hearing from people, through our clinics and its delivery of care and, yeah, continue doing that ever since.

Did this project create any opportunities for teaching, learning or research?

Alex: Yeah. Absolutely. So, I think there’s a lot of opportunities that opened up when, specifically, when you have a clinic that operates quarterly, because then you can plan accordingly for those partnerships and opportunities that arise. For me, I usually lecture, once a year. I’m an adjunct professor at UBC and I lecture on shelter medicine and shelter medicine diseases.

So, a lot of the students, it’ll be an open table for them to come out to these quarterly clinics. And they’ve been coming out since I’ve been teaching, and this is my fourth year.

So really, it’s a long-term partnership for them to work alongside veterinarians and really see them in the field of work alongside animals and see what issues the owners have to bring. But really seeing that intimate connection with One Health, in terms of owners, who may not want to bring up their own health issues, but will come and seek care if they are seeking care on behalf of their animal. So, it’s always something that we strongly emphasize when the owners are here for these clinics, is that we offer human health, a bond and a human health partnership as well, with the nurses and the counselors that come to our clinics as well.

Kyla: I think it’s been so nice having students. And we really do encourage not just, students interested in to becoming vets, but, students interested, you know, from the nursing side, which we’ve certainly had when Kelsi was still in school.

I think it just gives a really nice opportunity to show a different aspect of care and a different way of doing things and a way of, of providing care in a really kind and, and non-judgmental and safe space and I think for students, getting that first-hand experience really can help you decide what your next steps in your career might be, or just different pathways that you want to do. So, we are we love seeing the students. The students come back for multiple clinics and they get really excited. And so that’s really, it’s a really a positive experience for all of us having them there.  

Lexis: Yeah. The animal welfare program where she recently had an undergraduate student, who I was supervising named Chloe, who did her thesis about pet guardians who use drugs to understand potential barriers to accessing veterinary care during accidental pet drug poisoning emergencies. And so, we were lucky enough, because of our relationship with CVO to collect part of our data at CVO clinics. And so, we were able to talk to pet guardians about their own experiences, and concerns with drug poisonings and their pets. The research is in submission right now and we hope that this project can help inform veterinary practitioners about the intersection between stigmas related to drug use and access to veterinary care for pets.

I know that there are other opportunities that have popped up for data collection at CVO clinics and I think that moving forward, there’s probably only going to be more opportunities and more questions that are interesting. And again, this research aspect is really important because practitioners and policymakers are really interested in seeing more evidence to support this need for cross-sector support. And so, I only see more opportunities for knowledge exchange in the future.

What has been your favorite experience or outcome of the project?

Kelsi: For me, it’s always been like how inspired I am by the volunteers that come out and continue to give back to their communities and sort of the growth that we’ve seen in students with their own learning around the social determinants of health and serving marginalized populations through low barrier model. The other amazing thing has been this growing partnership with UBC and the different capacities we’ve been able to partner with the university.

So, today we’ve partnered with the School of Population, Public Health and the dental hygiene school and Pharmaceutical Sciences. And then, yeah, the animal welfare program through the Faculty of Land and Food Sciences. So, yeah, it’s been just really exciting to sort of bring all these different disciplines together and really serve the community. And I’m just excited to see where it goes next.

Lexis: I would say from a personal perspective, my favorite experience at CVO is just being able to see folks and their pets. Especially getting to see them over and over again. Many of them are my friends and I appreciate seeing their pets every so often. And chatting with them about their relationship with their pets.

I would say from the UBC side, I do know that, I guess Kyla kind of touched on this in the last question, but a lot of our students, in our undergraduate courses in applied biology or applied animal biology, are interested in going to veterinary school. And so, particularly in the course that I teach about animal sheltering, we talk a lot about community-based programing, and how we can support people and their pets in the community. And so a lot of students come to us and ask, “how can I get involved?” And so CVO is definitely high up on our list when we talk to them about it. And, I know many students from this class who have gone on to volunteer at CVO and then have gone on to vet school and become vets. And I really think that it is great that students are able to experience this side of veterinary care that’s again becoming more common and more needed. And I think that a lot of our alumni go on and continue to work in community settings, both in vet school and also later on in their vet careers. And I think a lot of it is, in part due to this early experience with CVO during their undergrad.

Alex:  Just to add to that, I think seeing the new clients who show up at CVO with every clinic, we also have a numerous number of new clients who come with our animals. So, seeing just how they heard about us and how they came to know us, and really having that level of trust, there is something that’s really near and dear to my heart. On the other side, I think seeing how volunteers have changed over the past number of years for CVO. I think CVO is a very well-established community partner right now in the Downtown Eastside. So, acknowledging that, you know, there’s been a bit of a paradigm shift and the type of volunteers that we have in that, you know, we’re not just having volunteers who are here for one single event in time, you know, they come, with open arms. They’re ready to help. They’re not expecting, gratitude. And I think that’s really important to say, because the whole point of the clinic is really to establish a long-term relationship with the people that we’re setting up partnerships with. This is not something that is one and done. This is something that we want to really have a long-term relationship and only with something that is long term can we really have that trust is there. Because if we don’t have the trust, then we can’t work on the numerous issues that exist in the social determinants of health.

Kyla: Yeah. I mean, I think everyone answered that question so well already. And I echo all of it. I just see the trust building up in the community. I mean, we get to hear from some of our housing partners how clients are looking forward to our next one. Because they trust. They trust the advice they get, they trust the feelings of safety they’re going to get when they come to our clinic and so we get to give that back to them and we get to teach students and other volunteers. You know, there is an old that process that you shouldn’t have an animal if you can’t pay for it, and that’s just it’s so old now. And to see how these animals have such a positive impact on their owners’ lives, both mentally and physically is really touching and I think we a lot of us know that instinctively, but the ability to now partner with UBC to get to get research done and to help grow that research, makes all of those kind of instinctive feelings we have facts, and that’s something that we can further give to other communities and just support the work that we’re doing even further.

What strengths did each party bring to the project?

Lexis: I would say that something that’s super unique about CVO is that there always is a very strong and equal representation of both the human and animal health care side and so we have obviously Kyla and Kelsi here. But I would say that among the folks who come and volunteer regularly there is a really amazing spread of people who work with animals, so like groomers and behaviorists and also, people who work on the human healthcare side.

And so, I think that, again, this speaks to this idea that CVO creates such a strong, interdisciplinary partnership within their community. And I think that that works really well for providing these comprehensive services and also, building this evidence base that, more this is needed.

Kelsi: Yeah. In terms of UBC support, I mean, we’ve been so fortunate to receive a local grant to sort of support some of the operating costs of our clinics. More than anything, I think just the widespread interest from the university in the work that we do and willing to partner with us whether it’s sort of operationally and delivering our services or from a research standpoint to gather more information and data, which Lex has talked about, to sort of demonstrate the efficacy of our work and sort of what we’re trying to do as a grassroots organization in Vancouver. And then, yeah, opportunities to create, or contribute to student learning. So, having a number of students come out to our events and get experiential learning opportunities and yeah, to learn and shape their careers moving forward and how they can impact their communities.  And, you know, best support people who are, who are facing such, significant health disparities and who have historically been underserved.  

Alex: Yeah. This year, we’ve had three or four clinics so far. And I think, Kyla and Kelsi are really good at reflecting on each clinic and, you know, finding out, you know, what went well and what was more so an area that needed more attention.

So with that, Kyla and Kelsi actually spearheaded the need for more spay neuter services this year. So, we were actually able to schedule a separate clinic outside of the regular, wellness clinics where owners were able to bring their animals in for spay neuter services, which is something that wasn’t historically offered. And we were able to offer that thanks to the funding that we received this year. So, that, specific spay neuter clinic was really, a pioneering event that we had.

We not only had vets, we had students come as well. So they were able to, you know, engage in what a surgery looks like. And how do we prepare for surgery and how do we recover?  And also we were able to focus on, I guess the extras that come with it. So, you know, we had to schedule, the appropriate day. We had to provide transport, for the clients who, who needed the surgical services. So really looking at things that we weren’t able to provide on a routine wellness clinic. Kelsi and Kyla were so fantastic and filling in that space, for that need.

Kyla: So far as a partnership, UBC has been so, so helpful. I mean, I can’t I can’t understate the importance of funding. It’s been incredible. And it has just given us the flexibility to focus on the care that we’re providing instead of also trying to chase down, funds for our operating costs. So it really is amazing.

And then when we get to partner with wonderful people like Lexis and Alex, their passion for, for this work, help students believe in it more. And they’re the ones that come up with new ideas as well for how we better engage. Or maybe we try something a little different. And so it’s really nice having, more people to bounce ideas off of. So that, you know, Kelsi and I get fresh perspectives and we just get to continue to grow these clinics in a way that’s sustainable but also, representative for everybody.

What advice do you have for others hoping to develop successful community university partnerships?

Kyla: you know, getting getting involved with the university can be massive. There’s so many departments, there’s so many, people to potentially connect with. And so truly for us, I really do think it was finding getting involved at a student level. So, I mean, having Kelsi involved as a student while she was at UBC was amazing. We’ve touched base with the animal, welfare club, at UBC as well. And so getting students excited about it, can actually help that kind of groundswell grow.

And then it’s maybe easier to connect with a department or connect with a prof to kind of go from there. So, I think really for us and maybe just advice in general, is, trying to see if there’s something that students can get engaged in.  

Kelsi: I think as a community organization or non-for-profit or charity, like creating opportunities for students to get involved is just really important. Which I think CVO does really nicely. Because it is a volunteer based organization, we rely heavily on students. And so I think, yeah, we’re really fortunate to have people like Alex and Lexis who are involved in the university. But then also have come out to volunteer separate to their academic roles.

And then just nicely sort of, bridging those two worlds.  I know when I finished my, nursing education at UBC, I went back and taught nursing students and then looked to sort of create a partnership between the university and CVO, for the nursing students through their clinical placements and yeah, the I mean, UBC to date has just been really excited about what we’ve been doing and have, yeah, have really sort of latched on where they could. So I think as an organization, as you know, sort of, a casting that net, to students and faculty and , to date, its only led us to sort of a growing partnership. So, we’ve been fortunate that way.

Alex: Yeah. In terms of my advice for future community partnerships. I think it’s being thankful for the spaces that we have and the spaces that we’re able to engage in. I’m very fortunate to be able to be part of the academic space at UBC. But I’m also very fortunate to have like a community space amongst a lot of veterinarians who are my friends as well as my colleagues. So, really, you know, not only getting volunteers from the student side of things but also getting, you know, enough volunteers from the veterinarian and the health professional side of the things because you really need, the manpower and the heart, to be able to run a clinic. So even if you have all this funding, if you don’t have enough people to run it and you don’t have enough genuine, intentional people who are intentionally trying to help these clinics, then you know you’ll reach a limitation pretty fast.

So, I think being able to constantly, you know, word by mouth, you know, advertise about, you know, that this clinic is happening to your colleagues and your community partners, I think is really imperative in the long term health of of a community partnership like CVO.

What’s next for the partnership?

Kyla: So, we, you know, we we currently do four, four clinics a year. And then, as Alex said, we did our first, separate spay neuter clinic in the fall, hoping to do that again in the spring. you know, more and more, we have more people reaching out. We have more people, asking for help and asking for us to be involved. So, trying to figure out a way that maybe—can we increase the number of clinics we we offer? Can we sustain that with volunteers?

Can we look for other opportunities to kind of provide even more care? So that’s kind of on our our list for this coming year, is how we can continue to offer what we do offer and and see if we can grow from that as well. And so a lot of that will be collaboration. Especially like Alex said, you know, retaining and engaging, dedicated and passionate volunteers to kind of help us plan.

Alex: Yeah. So I think as each academic year comes along, I think we have a new batch of students that come along. And with that comes, a lot of new ideas. So being open and flexible, to pursuing these ideas, just like how, you know, Kyle and Kelsi were able to find gaps in the clinic and to be able to fill those gaps. So just being, open to new opportunities for the future, is really important. And also further supporting our volunteers is something that’s really important to us. So, you know, I think our volunteers come from a lot of different diverse backgrounds. So making feel that making sure that at these clinics, they feel like they have the knowledge equipped, ready to serve. And they also have, the passion and the heart ready to do so. I think in this day and age, it’s really easy for students to become, I guess burdened by a lot of the opportunities that they have outside of their school. You know, keeping in mind that these are students, they’re oftentimes full time students with the whole workload.

So just making sure that they feel well trained and well supported in these workshops is something that is going to continue to be of importance to us.

Lexis: So, I mentioned previously that we’re interested in digging into the data and figuring out what else we can offer and in the community. And I know that given a goal, a good goal for CVO is to create this low barrier access point for human and animal health care services.

I know that there has been interest in other services, aside from what we currently offer. We recently partnered with the Ottawa model for smoking cessation, which is part of the Ottawa Health Institute. And OMSC has helped support other clinics, other CVO clinics in Canada. And they had reached out and they were asking, if we thought that there might be a need for smoking cessation services here in Vancouver.

And so we did do a needs assessment in our most recent clinic to, again, just understand whether there is a need or whether we could help support smoking cessation for our clients, through our kind of quarterly-ish clinics. And this is again, kind of an issue that impacts both people and perhaps because we know that there is concern for second hand smoke impacts on pets. And so, CVO could again be a place to provide support for pet owners who are interested in reducing smoking. And then I would also say that on the university side, I know that there is interest in kind of for my side, kind of, helping support the sustainability of student volunteers. And so, I’m hoping to look into creating opportunities for course credit, which have come occasionally when students do things like theses. But, if there’s any way, again, that we can support the sustainability of our student volunteers, which makes up the huge part of the force that is CVO, I think that that would be a great avenue to go down.

If people are interested in getting involved in CVO or in the animal welfare program, what’s the best way to find opportunities?

Kyla: So, we have a website, which is vetoutreach.org. So, that’s our national website, but all the emails specific to Vancouver come to Kelsi and I and so they can also just email us, at vancouver@vetoutreach.org  We respond to all of them. And we’ll get people set up on either just answer their questions if they’re interested or get them set up on our mailing lists. So, they can know when our next clinics are and when we put out the call for volunteers. But yeah, we’re happy—we love everybody. You don’t have to have animal experience. You don’t have to be a vet. You don’t have to be a nurse. You just have to be engaged in the project. And we will find a spot for you.

Lexis: On the university side for the animal welfare program, if there are students who are interested in getting involved for research you can just go to awp.landfood.ubc.ca. I’m part of the human animal interaction lab. My principal investigator is Doctor Alexandra (Sasha) Protopopova for that. You can find all of our information there. Definitely reach out if you’re interested in kind of research opportunities, course credit opportunities. Just chatting about volunteering at CVO in general. We’re always open.

Alex: We do have the UBC Pre-Veterinary and Animal Welfare. So, they have their own website, and they do regularly scheduled volunteer and social opportunities through there as well. So, really just getting connected to the community, to find out about all the opportunities that you have. And of course, students who are regularly part of the regular course load, can always contact their professor for further opportunities in their respective programs.