Posts in Category: What AHF Supports

https://www.aligncarehealth.org/community_losangeles

Dr. Jeremy Prupas, chief veterinarian for the Los Angeles City Department of Animal Services, helped launch a service called AlignCare in 2019, which aids needy pet owners with veterinary bills they often cannot pay.

“The goal is not just to help the animal.  It’s to help the whole family. The idea is that if someone is having problems paying for a pet’s care, there are probably other things going on in that family’s life that they need help with.  So AlignCare has [focused on] the human side of this problem.

“That’s really what got my attention at the very beginning.  This is really the One Health approach to try to get help for everybody who needs it.”

The concept originated with Dr. Michael Blackwell, a veterinarian at the University of Tennessee veterinary school.  “I became friends with him in one of the [veterinary] groups I was in,” Dr. Prupas said.  “I learned a lot about AlignCare from him.  And I said to him: ‘You know what, Michael, let’s try it.  I don’t know why we can’t make it work in LA.’”

The Los Angeles project – the first community trying to implement the program from the ground up.  It initially is focused on South Los Angeles, where Downtown Dog Rescue is a major player in pet welfare. 

“Basically, the idea is that you form a partnership with community veterinarians, and they agree that they will discount their prices.  They submit their invoices on the internet and AlignCare pays them directly.”

Participating hospitals are asked to lower their fees as much as they can, Dr. Prupas said.  “I think AlignCare asks them for a 20% cut.  But the hospitals decide what they’re going to charge.  AlignCare doesn’t interfere with the decisions of the vets or the practice owners.”

The pet owner is responsible for 20 percent of the discounted bill, he said, “so they

still have a stake in it.  But it’s a way for the pet hospital to feel that it will get paid.  And the veterinarian makes the decisions with the pet owner on what kind of care they’re going to provide.”

“The goal is that if any pet owner comes into a vet hospital or to a shelter asking for help, they’re going to be referred to AlignCare.  They would go online and fill out an application.  It’s very simple. Basically, the pet owner would just have to prove that he or she is on some form of assistance.  If you can prove that it’s almost automatic that you’re accepted into the program.  Then the pet owner is told of the hospitals that are part of the program and chooses which hospital to visit.”

He said that AlignCare includes a national team of veterinary “social workers” who will help families by referring them to whatever social services they need and helping them converse with their veterinary teams if there are any issues.  There are also “human support coordinators” who can help pet owners sign up for the program and make necessary arrangements such as appointments and arranging transportation to the hospital.

The challenge, he said, can be in where the money comes from to pay the AlignCare part of the bill.  “The idea behind it is that the community donates the money to pay the bills.  For instance, in LA we’ve been talking to several different animal welfare organizations.  

“Making it sustainable is really what keeps me up at night.  How will we be able to raise enough money to keep this going as we expand?  That’s why we decided to start slow and small.”

And, he pointed out, there are major benefits for pet families who get financial help.  Besides helping them avoid the strain on the family budget of a large expenditure, it can prevent the mental – sometimes physical – trauma of losing their pets and it can keep the family structure intact.   

The next step for Los Angeles AlignCare will be to expand beyond South Los Angeles and to get more veterinarians involved, Dr. Prupas said.  We’re looking for more veterinary hospitals that might want to join.  We’ll also need to expand in a way that doesn’t make us run out of money.”

Dr. Prupas has served as chief veterinarian for Los Angeles Animal Services for nearly 14 years.  He supervises six shelters that employ six veterinarians and 22 RVTs.  He earned his veterinary degree at the University of Pennsylvania and has practiced in Connecticut and San Diego, where he owned a feline practice. 

A few months ago, Laura Alvarado said, her family noticed a beautiful gray cat spending time in their backyard in Long Beach. 

“The cat looked scared and it was hanging around in our yard.  So we decided to rescue it.  It was very friendly and it came to us,” Laura said.  “My mom took the cat in the house and took care of her.  We had never had cats, just dogs before. We got her the shots she needed and had her spayed.”

But not long after taking in the cat they named Beba, a beautiful short-haired gray domestic, the Alvarado family got some shocking news. Beba was pregnant – and she needed to have a cesarean section.  Leticia, Laura’s mother, had taken Beba to Los Coyotes Pet Hospital, where she was examined by Dr. Sonah Jo.

In early April, the surgery was performed.  None of the kittens survived.  “Dr. Jo told us to give Beba a lot of love because cats mourn the death of their kittens,” Laura said.  “We have been giving her as much love as we can and she’s doing great.”

The Alvarado family gets by on a limited income.  Leticia had to quit her job to provide care for a son, Gustavo Jr., who is disabled.  Gustavo, the father, can no longer work and gets a disability check.  Laura works as a probation officer in Riverside.  She spends half her days there and the other half at her parents’ home.

Dr. Jo told Leticia about Angel Fund.  “We couldn’t have paid for the surgery without it,” Laura said. “When Angel Fund was brought to our attention, it was just a sigh of relief.  We didn’t think when we rescued Beba, that we’d have to be so involved financially.

“Angel Fund was really great.  What they did for us was amazing.”  The grant was for $232.49, an amount matched by the hospital.   “We were devastated by what happened,” Laura said.  “We didn’t know what to do.”   Angel Fund helped provide the Alvarado family with the answer.  

Early one cold January morning last year, Martiniano Gutierrez, was walking his Chihuahua Goofy in a park in Santa Ana.  Suddenly, a black German Shepherd mix charged out of the predawn darkness and attacked the smaller dog.

Martiniano did not see the shepherd until it was too late.  He managed to pull the dog off Goofy – but not before it had inflicted serious wounds on the smaller dog’s chest and abdomen and he himself had been bitten.

A 68-year-old man from Puebla, Mex., Martiniano had been living in his car for a year and a half and was not working.  Goofy means everything to him.  “He is my only family. He is my son. He is the other half of my soul,” Martiniano told Ligia Veloz, staff members at Tustin Santa Ana Veterinary Hospital where he took his dog for treatment.  “Even though he was in pain from the attack, he still gave me kisses. Goofy may depend on me for nourishment but my soul depends on him.”

Goofy was calm, even though he was bleeding from his severe wounds.  “He’s such a good boy,” Ligia, a receptionist and technical assistant at the hospital said.  “That’s why we all fell in love with him.“  Dr. Laura Weatherford repaired Goofy surgically and the dog was released to Martiniano that evening.  “We knew he would do better with his dad,” Ligia said. “We saw him the next day and when he came in to be checked over several weeks.”

Martiniano did not have money to pay the bill.  The hospital steered him to Angel Fund, which provided $500, a sum matched by the hospital.  Those funds made the surgery and treatment possible and Goofy and his owner are grateful both to the hospital and Angel Fund.

The Mexican native has lived in the United States for 37 years and is now a U.S. citizen.  He worked for years as a tire man in a garage owned by his brother. But the brother died a few years ago.  Martiniano worked in the same garage for his nephew – but his pay was cut back and he had to live in the tire shop. He sought work elsewhere but was unable to find another job because of his age and the fact that he has difficulty walking and standing for long periods of time.

Today he lives on a Social Security disability check.  But he no longer is living in his car.  He now owns an RV, purchased a year ago through a state program that friends told him about.  It provides much more room and he and Goofy are more comfortable in it.

Martiniano recognized the dog that attacked Goofy.  He had stayed overnight near the Santa Ana park frequently and knew the house where the shepherd lived.  So he went there after his dog was injured and told the owners what had happened.  They refused to help and seemed to blame the event on Goofy and his master.

Ligia acted as interpreter in an interview with Martiniano, who speaks little English.  She said that her hospital helps him as much as possible.  “We have clients who donate bed and food and we always contact him because we know that he appreciates it.  And we love Goofy.”

Martiniano and Goofy plan to continue living in the RV because of money issues.  But there is not enough income to pay for a space in an RV park so they will continue to park on the street at night.

But they are happy together.  And Goofy is “really good,” Ligia said.  “He’s always got his tail wagging.  And he’s always looking for his dad.  He’s just a happy guy.”

Baby Kitty – a beautiful Siamese cat – had “a few issues with eating and tummy problems” in 2016, owner Cherry Simkins recalled in an interview.  “I didn’t worry about it that much.”

But the two-year-old feline’s condition worsened.  And one day, Cherry could not find him, despite a long search of all his favorite haunts in the yard of her Torrance home.  By this time Baby Kitty had stopped eating entirely, she said, and she was worried.  Her veterinarian, Dr. Alice Villalobos of Pawspice and Animal Oncology in Hermosa Beach,  suggested that she search places “where you know he couldn’t be – every crack and crevice.” And she found him in a stack of wood that he had crawled inside.

“He realized that he couldn’t eat and he had crawled in there and decided that he would die there,” she said. “He was turning into a skeleton and his food was not being processed by his body.”

She took Baby Kitty to Dr. Edward M. Leeds at Surgical Group for Animals in Torrance, referred by Dr. Villalobos, who had diagnosed the cat with a diaphragmatic hernia.  Cherry thinks that the condition may have been the consequence of a fall.  Many of his abdominal organs had crowded into his chest cavity, impinging on his lungs and heart and threatening his life.

The Surgical Group performed corrective surgery and guided Cherry to Angel Fund, which provided a grant of $500.  The hospital contributed $1,938.  “It wasn’t something I could take care of,“ Cherry said. “I had had some really hard times financially.”

She was told that the likelihood was that her cat would not survive. But she said, “everyone was pulling for Baby Kitty. There was no doubt in my mind that he would pull through.”  He did.  And now, she said, “he is a much sweeter cat.  He’s the most loving cat.  It really shows how thankful he was that he was saved.  He’s really touched a lot of hearts and that makes him all the more special.”

Baby Kitty’s recovery was not without its problems.  He and his brother Poofa are outdoor cats and they want to keep it that way, Cherry said.  He hated being in a cage where he needed to be confined for a month, she said.  “He just went crazy.  It meant I couldn’t work like a needed to.  He needed a lot of love and care. I had to hold him and calm him and keep him settled because he wanted out.  Even wearing a cone, he figured out how to get out of that cage. He was able to lift the edge of it and slide out – and it was a heavy cage.  He flattened his body like a rat.  He didn’t want to be in there.”

Today, life is back to normal for Cherry and her two cats.  “They’re pretty spoiled,” she said.  “They have lots of places to go, here and at the neighbors, I’m sure.  They share a big lot with possums, raccoons, rats and the occasional coyote.

She doesn’t see coyotes as a problem for Baby Kitty and Poofa, who previously lost a leg to surgery.  “I have amazing crows here who love the cats. After the surgery, a coyote came to eat cats on my property. Believe it or not, the crows went insane.

“All of them descended on this area and I came out [wondering] what is all this ruckus? And they were telling me that the coyote was there, glaring at Baby Kitty and Baby Kitty was glaring back. I shooed the coyote off.  It happened one other time. And I came out and sure enough there was a coyote here again.  So the crows take care of the kitties and the kitties catch rats for them.”

She said that her cats are the welcoming committee for her clients who visit the office she built outside her house.  And, she said, “Babby Kitty loves to make me laugh.  He’s a funny creature and he has personality.  He loves to play tag.  He wants you to pet him and if you try to step away, he’ll reach around – without claws – and whack you, like you’ve got to pet him some more.  It’s a game.”

Her experience with Angel Fund, Cherry said, “has helped me to share with all my clients the benefits that are out there – the people, the loving way that they went about it, their generosity.”

Listen as the AHF Board of Trustees President, Dr. Mark Malo (owner of Garden Grove Dog and Cat Hospital).

It speaks about the fnancial grants we are providing to help the pets of the homeless in Orange County with mobile clinics once a month.  These clinics provide vaccines, flea and tick treatments, ear infection treatments, and other minor treatments.

Listen and learn a bit more about what your donations support!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The Animal Health Foundation gives veterinary grants to this organization:

2 May 2016 – Santa Monica, CA – OURF Headquarters.  Between the recent devastating fires that have overtaken the country’s natural habitats and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio making surprise visits to highlight conservation efforts, Indonesia’s orangutan populations have been all over the news lately.  While public awareness is the first step towards making progress, for 10 years the Orang Utan Republik Foundation (OURF) has been on the ground in Indonesia working to save orangutans and other primates in danger due to unsustainable farming and human-wildlife conflict.  One of OURF’s key programs is the Orangutan Caring Scholarship, aimed at building a cadre of educated Indonesia citizens that will advocate orangutan survival, and OURF is proud to announce that the 100^th scholarship will be awarded this June.

When the Orangutan Caring Scholarship (OCS) was inaugurated in 2006 to support a student’s tuition and research activities, the first recipient, Syarifah Lia Andriati, was able to attend North Sumatra University and earn a degree in forestry. In the decade that followed, 93 other underprivileged and motivated students competed for and received the multi-year scholarship to attend local universities in the fields of biology, forestry and veterinary science.  While in school, the recipients conduct research about orangutans, their biology and health, and their habitat.  OURF President Dr. Gary Shapiro stated, “Each of the students who have received scholarships have become spokespersons for conserving orangutans and other wildlife.”  Since the program began, over 50 students have graduated and have gone into careers in academia, government, business and the non-profit sector.

The impact of the scholarship reaches much farther than just the life of the student:  “It is hard to overestimate the importance of this scholarship for providing an opportunity to students and their families who will benefit by this award in the name of the orangutan” said Shapiro. “Besides receiving an opportunity to earn a degree, the student’s extended family will see orangutans as a symbol of pride – not an animal to be laughed at or feared. The program also builds an important philanthropic bridge between cultures who may not fully understand or appreciate each other.”

Ceremonies to honor the students will take place in the cities of Medan (Sumatra) and Ketapang (West Kalimantan) in late-June. OURF President Shapiro will participate in the presentation ceremonies which will take place during the holy month of Ramadan.

The OCS is a partnership with both the local administering organizations (Orangutan Information Center and Yayasan Palung) and the funding organizations. OURF coordinates the OCS and has been grateful for the funds provided by The Orangutan Project (Australia), Orangutan Outreach (USA), the Animal Health Foundation (USA), and the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation (USA) as well as numerous individuals who have contributed towards the OCS fund.

Courtesy photo Monterey Park Police K9 Robin, with handler Agent Peter Palomino, recently received a $950 protective vest as a donation from nonprofit organizations Vested Interest in K9s Inc. and the Animal Health Foundation of Lake Forest

If you live in Southern California, you probably remember the story about the Monterey Park K-9 Officer Robin being stung by bees while helping to apprehend a suspect.

Thousands of people were praying that the beautiful black shepherd would survive the bee attack.  And, he did.

Officer Robin’s handler, Peter Palomino, wanted to protect his partner in other ways as well and put in a request to receive a bullet-proof vest for Robin.

The Animal Health Foundation who had partnered with another local police department to donate a vest was contacted by Vested Interest and donated a custom-made vest for K-9 Officer Robin.

Press Release from Monterey Park Police Dept.

On June 26, 2015, the Monterey Park Police Department’s K9 Robin was awarded a ballistic vest thanks to nonprofit organizations Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. and the Animal Health Foundation of Lake Forest, CA who provided $950 for the vest. The vest will be embroidered with the sentiment “This gift of protection provided by the Animal Health Foundation.” This is the second vest to be awarded to a Monterey Park K9 this year since K9 Veeda in May.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is a 501c (3) charity located in East Taunton, MA. whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. Each vest costs $950 and has a five year warranty. The nonprofit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially lifesaving body armor for their four legged K9 Officers. Through private and corporate sponsorships, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. provided over 1,395 law enforcement canines in 49 states with protective vests since 2009 at a cost of over $1.3 million.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. also announces their signature tank top is now available online for a $20.00 donation at www.vik9s.org. Proceeds will provide bullet and stab protective vests, for police dogs actively working without the potentially lifesaving equipments.

The organization orders the U.S. made vests exclusively from distributor Regency Police Supply in Hyannis, MA. who also does the custom embroidery on the body armor. Vests are manufactured by Armor Express in Central Lake, MI.

New K9 graduates as well as K9s with expired vests are eligible to participate. The program is open to law enforcement dogs who are U.S. employed, certified and at least 19 months of age.

For more information regarding Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. or to learn about volunteer opportunities, please call 508-824-6978. Tax deductible donations accepted via mail to: Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. P.O. Box 9 East Taunton, MA 02718 or via their website at www.vik9s.org

The Pasadena Star News wrote this story:

By Melissa Masatani, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

About three years ago, Julie Waters found a young female cat she named Sabrina alone in a parking lot. “She was a stray and she was tiny,” Julie recalled. “But ever since she came into my house – she was just a couple of months old – she has been in charge. I have another cat and big dog but Sabrina is the boss.”

In December, 2014, more than a year after finding the kitten, Julie noticed that the usually high energy Sabrina was lethargic. “She wasn’t interacting with the other pets. She was just laying around a lot. I thought maybe she was sick but I didn’t think it was anything serious.  One of my friends saw her after a week and she said, ‘She doesn’t look good. You should take her to the vet.’ I was thinking the same thing. Sabrina wasn’t getting any better. So I took her in and it was like, oh no, this is really bad!”

Julie took her cat to Redwood Animal Hospital in Redondo Beach not far from her home.  Dr. Veronica Pirotto examined Sabrina and found “a mass of some sort. Sabrina was very uncomfortable when she was touched in the abdomen.  Two days later, they did exploratory surgery. They called me while she was still on the table and said that they needed to send her to a specialist. She was going septic. All the tissue around her organs was infected and there was some leakage into her kidney. If she doesn’t have surgery to remove the infected tissue she is going to die of kidney failure, the doctor said.”

Julie took Sabrina home with medications to keep the infection at bay and made an appointment with Dr. Mary Somerville at Animal Specialty and Emergency Center, also in Redondo Beach.

Dr. Somerville performed surgery to remove the infected tissue. “But she called me and said that Sabrina needed a second surgery to removed one of her kidneys. Dr. Somerville quoted me a price of $3,500 for the first surgery and the hospital stay. And with the second surgery and longer stay, it was going to more like $5,500. But she honored the original quote. She was really wonderful.”

At the time, Julie had just earned a graduate degree at Cal State Dominguez Hills and had begun the 3,000 hours of practical work needed to qualify for a license as a marriage and family counselor. She is self supporting and had little income. She did not know how she could pay for the surgery. “It was very scary,” she said. “My cat was just a year and a half old. She is not supposed to be dying of kidney failure. And I was like, I can’t afford this [second surgery].  I could barely afford the exploratory surgery.”

The doctors and staff at Redwood told Julie about Angel Fund and helped her apply. They also told her about other foundations that might help.  And, she said, they provided her with free services.  “I am very thankful to them and to Angel Fund because that whole time was so stressful. My grandmother passed away in surgery a week before Sabrina had her surgery and that whole time just feels like a blur.” Julie now has her counseling license and is launched on her career.

And Sabrina still runs the house. “She has so much energy,” Julie said. “She is totally the boss of the house again. . . . She is a hussy.  That’s what she is.”

It is with great sadness that AHF grant recipient The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee announced the passing of Frieda.

The much loved 49-year-old Asian elephant came to The Sanctuary after a lifetime of performing. Frieda resided at The Sanctuary’s Quarantine Barn & Habitat with her longtime companions, elephants Billie and Liz –known as “the threesome”– and their ‘herd’ mates, Minnie, Ronnie and Debbie.

Frieda arrived in sanctuary in 2006 underweight and suffering from arthritis, osteomyelitis (a terminal bone disease caused by standing for too long on cement), and exposure to tuberculosis. Over the last few weeks, the progression of these chronic conditions and the associated pain worsened. Frieda was humanely euthanized on Monday afternoon. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by those who cared for and loved her. Billie and Liz were nearby.

She will be missed.

To read Frieda’s whole story go here:  https://www.elephants.com/frieda/friedaBio.php