All pets deserve access to veterinary care. But millions of families have limited access to veterinary care, mainly due to insufficient funds. Lack of needed veterinary care negatively impacts the whole family—human and nonhuman—and may lead to relinquishment to shelters. The community this is also at risk from the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Dr. Blackwell, Director of the Program for Pet Health Equity, University of Tennessee, will speak about this national family crisis and AlignCare®, a One Health healthcare system to address it. AlignCare improves access to veterinary care for families in need by aligning community resources and activities nationally. AlignCare is structured on One Health by:
- Addressing the financial and emotional needs of pet parents/guardians (people)
- Enabling veterinary service providers to help underserved pets (animals)
- Controlling and spreading costs to address the impacts of low socioeconomic status (Environment or ecosystem)
The AlignCare System is the first healthcare model that encompasses human and companion health and wellbeing. As such, the AlignCare infrastructure involves close collaboration between veterinary social work coordinators and veterinary service providers committed to the AlignCare vision of keeping families together.
This session is part of the Shelter Medicine series, a collaboration between the Association of Shelter Veterinarians and The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement.
This program is pending approval for:
- 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit.
- 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval.
WEBSITE LINK: https://learning.theaawa.org/p/shelter-medicine
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