This piece originally appeared in the RVT Journal in 2021
A transformational new program at the Uni-versity of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College, the Kim and Stu Lang Community Healthcare Partnership Program, will improve the health of animals through more accessible care and help shape the future of veterinary education in Canada.
A new community healthcare program at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) will improve the health of animals by improving access to care and influencing the future of veterinary education in Canada.
An $11-million donation, the largest single gift received by OVC, will create the Kim and Stu Lang Community Healthcare Partnership Program (CHPP). Longtime U of G and OVC benefactors Kim and Stu Lang will provide the funding through their Angel Gabriel Foundation. At its core, the new program will focus on identifying, understanding and removing barriers that impede access to healthcare for animals.
“Our role is to prepare our graduates for their future careers. In doing so, we consider not just the skills that will equip our students for their first day on the job, but also the attri-butes that will sustain them in their careers for the coming decades,” says OVC Dean Jeff Wichtel. “This new program will employ an interdisciplinary One Health approach to pos-itively impact animal health and welfare of animals for years to come.”
“This gift represents our love for animals and our desire that this program becomes a force for good in the world. We hope it will have a positive and lasting impact on animals and those who love them, and that it will help inspire generations of future veterinarians,” said Kim Lang.
The CHPP will transform OVC’s approach to veterinary medical education, providing advanced community-based learning opportunities, ensuring student veterinarians can grow their competence and confidence before they graduate.
It will also provide funding for post-graduate training including Doctor of Veterinary Sci-ence (DVSc) and internships in community and shelter medicine, training previously only available outside of Canada.
“Through this aspirational investment, OVC will be able to fully integrate this type of community-based training into our curriculum, valuing the role that our veterinary graduates can play in improving the lives of vulnerable populations,” adds Wichtel.
OVC has benefited from strong partnerships with a number of neighbouring humane societies and other community organizations, he notes. “Faculty, staff and students who have been fortunate to volunteer with these organizations have experienced the impact these groups have on the lives of people and their animal companions.” The new program will bring more of these opportunities into the curriculum, helping students to learn how to build these relationships and partnerships with communities in need.
The gift will create a new professorship in community and/or shelter medicine to drive academic research in this field. Research is needed to establish evidence-based best practices in providing care for underserved communities and for sheltered animals and to study shelter management strategies to measure cost-benefits and community benefit. On the social side of the spectrum, research can help determine which approaches to the intercultural exchange of knowledge and experience build the strongest partnerships and community benefits. It also can help determine what effect volunteering to provide accessible care to marginalized groups has on student and veterinary professional wellness and mental health, and it can help determine if providing this veterinary care impacts the social and health determinants of people without access to veterinary care.
Importantly, it will also expand and enhance the existing OVC spay-neuter facilities to further support existing community partnerships, benefit regional shelters, as well as further enhance the student experience.
As a result of the gift, new experiential learn-ing opportunities are being developed, such as a rotation for fourth and final year student veterinarians to improve access to veterinary care in Northern Indigenous communities.
Dr. Lynn Henderson joined OVC in November 2021 as veterinary director who will forge collaborations with community partners and RVT Meghan Longley joined the team in mid 2021 as the Clinical Services Manager for the Kim and Stu Lang Community Healthcare Partnership Program.
“What I find most exciting about this program are the benefits and opportunities that are created for everyone involved. Whether you are the patient, client, student, technician, veterinarian or support staff, you can’t help but be changed by being involved in a program like CHPP,” says Longley. “Being immersed in a community and surrounded by individuals with a common positive goal is an infectious dynamic. I am humbled and grateful for people like Kim and Stu Lang for recognizing the need and making access to veterinary care a reality for those who would not normally be able to benefit.”
In addition to CHPP, the gift will also launch Remy’s Fund, named for one of the Lang’s rescue dogs that received life-saving cancer treatments at OVC, to help subsidize medical care for animals in need.
“Through this new investment, the Ontario Veterinary College will graduate veterinarians who are competent to support and lead pro-grams that expand access to animal healthcare for underserved populations,” says Wichtel.
A lifelong champion of animal welfare, Kim Lang has served on the OVC Pet Trust advisory board since 2009 and currently co-chairs its marketing committee. OVC Pet Trust improves and advances companion animal health and well-being by supporting health care, education and innovative discoveries at OVC.
Access granted: Remy’s Fund provides improved access to veterinary care for made vulnerable communities
The human-animal bond is critical to the health of many individuals, families and com-munities. According to the Canadian Animal Health Institute, it is estimated that more than half of Canadians share their life with a pet.
Each year, countless people cannot afford to pay for basic veterinary care. This financial barrier can lead to poor health outcomes for pets and the people who care for them. Historically, veterinary education has not focused on addressing this social inequity. The Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) and many community-based veterinarians are addressing these and other social justice issues with a goal of creating compelling, sustainable and equitable ways to improve access to care, including providing subsidies for treatment for pets of qualified clients.
In 2019, long-time OVC supporters Kim and Stu Lang kick-started Remy’s Fund with a $1-million endowment donation. A program of OVC Pet Trust, the fund is named in memory of the Lang’s beloved dog Remy, a yellow Labrador Retriever they rescued. Two years later, the care Remy received at OVC saved her life. Remy’s Fund is part of a larger gift to create the $11 million Kim and Stu Lang Community Healthcare Partnership Program (CHPP), which is aimed at making veterinary care more affordable and accessible for underserved communities, including Indigenous communities as well as individuals who are experiencing poverty or housing insecurity.
Happy outcomes wanted
Since the CHPP was announced in 2019, OVC leaders have created a set of initial guidelines for how Remy’s Fund will be managed, which will expand in the years to come as the fund grows through further donations. The fund is currently directed toward supporting pets and families from communities where OVC has established relationships and has done pro bono work in the past.
The fund will be used for medical expenses beyond basic preventive care. Dr. Shane Bateman, interim director of CHPP says, “We are still in the early days of establishing this fund, but for now it will be devoted to supporting the medical expenses of animals that have a good prognosis for one-time treatments that do not require ongoing or chronic care. We want to make choices that allow for as many happy outcomes as possible.”
Remy’s Fund has been put to work rather quickly during the pandemic. “When a client contacts us from a community where we are already providing outreach services, we have been able to triage the situation virtually. If we feel the patient needs specialized care and the family can get them to a nearby clinic, we provide financial support to qualified pets who meet the established criteria for patient eligibility.”
Care for pets and experiential learning for students
The CHPP project supports teams of student veterinarians to provide in-community preventive care such as spay and neuter procedures and vaccinations. When the team encounters patients who need additional care, or pets fall ill in between visits, then Remy’s Fund will be utilized to support those families using a new model called incremental care, which involves critically assessing the patient and prioritizing diagnostics and treatments that match the client’s resources or budget.
Bateman expects that within three years, once the CHPP curriculum changes – which will include new clinical rotations and increased experiential learning opportunities – are implemented at OVC, Remy’s Fund will not only support families needing extra medical care, but will be critical in helping students to understand incremental care.
“Remy’s Fund will do a lot of good work in these communities, and practical learning at this level is profoundly engaging and formative for students,” says Bateman.
Inspire and catalyze positive change
In addition to Indigenous communities, Remy’s Fund will play an important role in supporting pets of families and individuals experiencing poverty or trauma.
“For a person who has experienced trauma or violence by other humans, pets can be an important, loving, unconditional relationship in their life,” says Bateman. “Pets are critical to a person’s welfare and mental health, especially when other areas of their life are unstable.”
Bateman is deeply grateful to Kim and Stu Lang for their vision to create CHPP.
“This program will allow OVC to be a leader in understanding how best to demonstrate the impact that providing veterinary care and improving animal health can ultimately have on human health and the health of the community,” he says. “Most important, CHPP will inspire and catalyze positive change in the veterinary profession, arming the next generation of veterinarians with confidence, cultural competence and leader-ship skills to serve their communities and ultimately make the world a better place.”
What the volunteers say
“The program is a triangled benefit for all involved: As an RVT, we help teach the students that are learning practices for when they go out to the “real world”, we get to interact with the owners and pets; those not as fortunate and who love their pets – benefit by know they are getting great care from us without judgement. At the end of the day, it feels wonderful knowing everyone you helped and of course, the focus being primarily, the animal you are focusing on.”
Sonia Maiorano RVT, Animal Care Coordinator at the Guelph Humane Society and volunteer with GHS Spay/Neuter Initiatives
“In May it was a Wellness Clinic, today it is a Spay/Neuter Clinic, next Monday it will be a Vaccination Clinic in First Nation communities. The days are long and the work seems never-ending, yet it is the most rewarding and heart-warming work I have ever done. The love and gratitude from the owners, often with limited or no resources, knowing that today they have been able to provide the best possible care for their pets with our help. The wagging tails and sloppy face kisses show how deeply the human-animal bond goes. The technicians, veterinary students, instructors and co-or-dinators with whom I work are dedicated, skilled, generous, kind, and gentle. They go above and beyond in the care and compassion they demonstrate in the communities they serve. This is veterinary medicine at its best.”
Donna Gingras, VT, volunteer with several of CHPPs First Nations Clinics.
“Being invited into someone’s home which often encompasses their community is an honour. The ability to provide veterinary care to people and their animal companions who often have little or no access to meet their needs is the best veterinary medicine! There are often stories to be shared and much is learned about our aboriginal cultures and people within our own community. Engaging with the veterinary students and seeing them gain confidence while exhibiting kindness and compassion makes my heart grow. Giving back is good for the soul, it makes us better humans and exposes us to the trials of others on a daily basis and helps us to appreciate all that we have. I have been given the opportunity to participate in Wellness Clinics in Guelph and surrounding areas, Walpole Island as well as many trips to fly in communities in Northern Ontario. My only wish is that I could give more…because I receive so much more from the experience! I am grateful to Dr. Shane Bateman and Catlake Friends of Animush for giving me the opportunity to volunteer with remarkable students, veterinarians, vet techs and support staff.”
Linda Groocock, RVT, volunteer with several of CHPPs First Nations Clinics.
