The Healthy Animal-Healthy Community Initiative: A Case Study of Providing Access to Veterinary Care

The last ten years has seen a shift in animal welfare as organizations across the country began to focus on how to address the root causes of problems facing animals. It became clear that without addressing the human side of the equation, we will only ever be reactive rather than proactive. Program models began to shift away from shelter-based services and increasingly more towards preventative, community-based solutions. 

As part of the Animal Rescue League of Boston’s 2015 strategic planning process, the organization updated is mission and vision to include a focus on meeting people and animals where they are, bringing veterinary and wellness services directly to those who need it most, so that animals are safe and healthy living in communities and out of shelters. 

This session follows a case study of the Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Wellness Waggin’ from conception to implementation. We will discuss each step taken to get from the idea of a new community-based program to determining a target area, creating community relationships, identifying a critical need, finding funding, launching a pilot program, and finally implementing a permanent program. Today, the Wellness Waggin’ is a mobile veterinary unit which provides high-quality, low-cost wellness care for residents of four different communities in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the program’s inception in 2018, the program has completed over 9,000 appointments for wellness care.