Today we meet Laura Brown, office manager for Feeding Pets of the Homeless®. She shares her experience working with us for six years. She wears many different hats but the hat she wears best is compassion. She goes above and beyond to serve the pets belonging to the homeless.
Today we meet Laura Brown, office manager for Feeding Pets of the Homeless®. She shares her experience working with us for six years. She wears many different hats but the hat she wears best is compassion. She goes above and beyond to serve the pets belonging to the homeless.
Episode 1 Transcript
00:00
We recently helped a woman who was involved in the Oregon wildfires this woman had lost her home and all of her belongings. And all she had left was her two children and her cat. And she was desperate to find the cat. And luckily when it was found we were able to help her get the emergency care the cat needed, and we were able to reunite Sonny with his family. It's awesome to be able to help someone that had lost everything and be able to keep their their pet.
00:45
Hello, and welcome to Give a Dog a Bone. I'm Genevieve Frederick, the founder of Feeding Pets of the Homeless. Find out more about our mission and the animals we've helped. Hear the stories of insiders, volunteers and leaders about why we do what we do, and how you can make a difference. It's all here on Give a Dog a Bone.
01:16
Welcome to this episode of Give a Dog a Bone. Today I'd like to introduce our compassionate office manager, Laura Brown. Laura, welcome. tell the audience a little bit about yourself and how long you've been on the staff of Feeding Pets of the Homeless.
01:34
Thank you, Genevieve. I am a proud mother of three children and I have been married for 33 years to my wonderful husband. And I am the office manager here at Feeding Pets of the Homeless. I am responsible for managing our emergency veterinary care program, overseeing our case managers and volunteer coordinator and managing the database of our clients and their pets. I also provide payments for approved treatments to veterinarians, and I oversee and report to the executive director, the entire process to ensure it is running smoothly. And I have worked with Feeding Pets of the Homeless for a little over six years.
02:12
Well, Laura, you do a terrific job. And I want to know what working here has meant to you
02:19
Working here is very fulfilling to me because I myself have experienced the human-animal bond with my pets ever since I was about four years old. And I have felt the love that my dogs over the years have given me and they're like one of my children. And I know how important a pet is in one's life.
02:46
Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more that human-animal bond for the homeless is so extraordinary. Laura, do you have a special case that you would like to tell the audience about?
03:02
Well, we've had several cases where dogs have eaten towels. There was one case, a dog ate a blanket hem with a nylon thread over a foot long and aluminum foil, these obstructions stop the process, the dog cannot fully function and we pay for the diagnostics and provide assistance for life-saving surgery. And then this pet is able to live out the rest of their life with their homeless owner and it's extremely touching to us to know that we have saved a pet’s life.
03:41
It's not uncommon for dogs to eat things that they shouldn't. I mean, we hear about that all the time. The things that the doctors have told us that they've pulled out of their stomachs is amazing. So we pay the veterinarian hospital at time of service. So we don't give the homeless any money. Correct? Correct.
04:05
We preapprove all treatment for the cases after we do an intake and vet the homeless person to make sure they're homeless. And we preapprove all treatment and pay the veterinarian directly.
04:18
You know our stats are telling me that there were over 8400 calls last year. What are people calling about?
04:27
People call us to find free emergency veterinary care, to find pet food. They inquire about where they can go to a shelter that allows pets. They need vaccinations, spays and neuters and they're hoping to find free services available to them because they do not have the means nor the money to be able to pay.
Yeah.
Another example of a fulfilling case, we recently helped a woman who was involved in the Oregon wildfires. During an evacuation, her cat disappeared, and she lost her entire home and everything that was in it. And her cat Sonny ran off, and four days later it was located. And when it was found it had a dislocated front shoulder and a huge open wound on its leg. So we were able to approve and provide assistance for the exam and the diagnostics. And the shoulder was broken. And Sonny's leg needed to be amputated. So this case impacted us because this woman had lost her home and all of her belongings. And all she had left was her, her two children and her cat. And she was desperate to find the cat. And luckily, when it was found and we were able to help her get the emergency care the cat needed. And we assisted with $900 to have the cat's leg amputated. And we were able to reunite Sonny with his family. It's awesome to be able to help someone that was just you know, had lost everything and be able to keep their pet.
06:22
I'm so glad that she was able to find us. And I'm sure that some of the agencies in that fire area in Oregon are the ones that told her to call us when that cat needed our help. Many times, the homeless don't call us in time. And those are the cases that break our hearts. Want to tell us about one of those.
06:49
Now, unfortunately, we do have to deal with euthanasia, as they're very difficult on us. But we do rely on our partner veterinarians' professional experience to determine and discuss these options with our clients. There was recently a case in Los Angeles, a woman named Maria and her dog Chiquita who was a perfectly healthy German Shepherd. But she lived down in the riverbed. And because of that, had to walk extremely long distances all of the time. And one day, the dog had slipped a disc in its back, and it could not be repaired, and the dog couldn't walk anymore, and unfortunately, had to be euthanized. And because of her lack of housing is why this happened. So the dog suffered. And the lady also had another little dog. And we had approved some treatment for some dental extractions for this dog. And the day that the surgery was scheduled, the dog died. So yeah, her second dog passed away just five days after the first. These dogs were all she had in her life. And it was a devastating loss for her. I personally took this case, the couple that owned this little Yorkshire Terrier, was participating in a rehabilitation program, they were both drug addicts, and their little dog literally had a string and could not defecate, there was a string. And it was an obstruction of over 12 inches of a hem of a blanket with nylon thread. And this impacted me because this case started on a Thursday. And the next morning the hospital called me and said there's no way this owner can afford this. And I said well, we can give our maximum assistance. Can you do the surgery for that? And they said no because it was so involved. This string went all the way through the dog's intestines. So I said, well, please let's, I'm going to call another organization, it was in San Diego, I called another organization, got them involved right away. And we are able to come up with enough assistance to have the surgery done on this dog. And I believe that if that dog didn't make it, those two people wouldn't have stayed involved in the program they were in because they would have been devastated. And something like that. What I mean is they were literally getting ready to get permission from the owner to euthanize this dog. And I said no, we've got I know there's other help available. So that one was pretty emotional. I felt really good about that afterward, knowing that I stepped in and stopped it and we saved this dog's life was amazing. It was a really good feeling.
09:55
Yeah, this is why she makes such a great case manager because she goes above and beyond what we are able to do and reaches out to other organizations, I've seen her do this more than once. And I can't help but appreciate her compassion for these folks that are struggling on the streets every day.
10:23
And then I can also I could talk about how hard it is on us when a veterinarian recommends euthanasia on a pet. The dog is, you know, has cancer and is extremely ill and in pain, and the person won't listen to the veterinarian and takes the pet home, back out onto the streets with minimal pain medication, and we know that pet was suffering and it's just sad to us to know that the pet suffering, and we wish that they would have listened to the veterinarian's advice. Those are hard on us. And listening to those stories over and over sometimes, within hours and days, can cause us to have our own physical, emotional and mental exhaustion. So we do have to practice letting these crisis's go,
11:18
you know, I know how hard it is on our case managers to hear the anguish from the callers. How do you manage the compassion fatigue?
11:27
Well, we discuss our cases, the managers get together at least every other week. And we talk about the cases that have affected us so that we can get it out in the open and get it off of our chest. We practice breathing techniques; we sometimes have to stand up and walk away, take a walk around the block. I do I want to say that the probably the first three years I worked with pets of the homeless. It was hard for me. But I have learned how to let them go. And I and I think talking about the stories amongst each other amongst the case managers and with Genevieve and Renee helps us to get it off of our chest and be able to share to let it go. It's you have to let it go.
12:18
Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. I can't tell you, you know how many times I lay awake at night, thinking that I have a roof over my head. And that my dog is and my husband are by my side. It makes me tear up. Every time I hear one of these stories. Knowing every day that we've helped, maybe not every single person that has called, but enough that when we go home, we know that we did something good today, we've got that good karma going on that we know that we are helping these pets that are ill and injured and in pain. So yeah, sad. But at the same time, it leaves us with that feeling that we've done something wonderful. We couldn't do this without our supporters. We don't take we don't get any or ask for any government money. This is all happens because we have supporters that donate to us. And we have private foundations that have given us grant money. What are some of the things that the people that are listening today can do to make a difference in the lives of pets of the homeless
13:41
Listeners can go to our website and make a monetary donation. Every dollar helps even if it's just a few. We have many cases every week, I believe we're averaging 47 cases a week. They can also become a volunteer with (Feeding) Pets of the Homeless and recruit donation sites. If they are a business, they can become a donation site that can collect donations of pet food. And then the donations are taken to a food pantry, a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter where the homeless congregate and can get free meal and they can also get pet food for free for their pets. Interested veterinarians can become a partner and join our network of over 1000 veterinarians across the country. They can become a donation site where they can collect donations of pet food. And they can also apply for a grant with (Feeding) Pets of the Homeless where we will sponsor wellness clinics in their community if they see the need. Awesome.
14:48
Well, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you, Laura, for the wonderful job you do to help the 1000s of pets you have personally helped over the last six years. Be sure to listen to our next podcast Give a Dog a Bone to learn about the work we do to help pets of the homeless across the country.
15:20
You've been listening to Give a Dog a Bone brought to you by Feeding Pets of the Homeless. If you've enjoyed the show, help us by leaving us a five-star review. It really helps new listeners find the show. If you'd like to connect with us, you can find us on social media and the web at petsofhtehomeless.org. I've been your host Genevieve until next time, thanks for listening