Offering the Right Care means animals are not left in dangerous circumstances to cause harm, suffer, or die because the shelter can’t admit them; nor are they are admitted to a crowded shelter when there are better options within the community. You’re doing this work because you want to serve animals and people in the shelter and in the community, but in order to provide the best care, you have to know—and make sure you’re operating within—your capacity for care. Within the shelter’s walls, the Right Care encompasses staffing, housing and programs to meet each animal’s basic needs. In this webinar, Drs. Chumkee Aziz and Denae Wagner will share how to provide humane housing and match community need to community capacity and shelter services to ensure all animals receive the care that is right for them.
This webinar is part 3 of “The Future Is Four: The Right Care in the Right Place at the Right Time to the Right Outcome Right Place” series. Register once for these four sessions, which will be recorded.
The webcast has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.
Presenters
Denae Wagner, DVM, MPVM, Assistant Director and Chief Portalizer
In her work for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program, Dr. Wagner has helped shelters from Florida to Vancouver. Her contributions have ranged from Capacity for Care (C4C) calculations and population health to full facility design consultations. After initially fashioning them by hand, Dr. Wagner oversaw the design and manufacture of the Kat Portal for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program. Over 5,000 of her hand-made and manufactured portals have been installed in animal shelters throughout North America and beyond, earning Dr. Wagner the nickname, The Portal Queen. The portals safely and cleanly couple pairs of existing cat cages, transforming cramped housing into roomier double-compartment condos. Dr. Wagner’s current interests include evidence based shelter design and the effects of housing and the shelter environment on animal health and well-being.
Mehnaz (Chumkee) Aziz, DVM, Outreach Veterinarian
Chumkee obtained her DVM degree at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012. She then completed an internship at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in NYC in 2013, which included experience in anti-cruelty work and shelter medicine. Chumkee was a resident at the KSMP from 2013-2016.She headed the Northern Tier Shelter Initiative and served as Senior Director of Shelter Medicine Services at the ASPCA before returning to the KSMP in January, 2022 as an outreach veterinarian. Her current interests include the role of community collaboration in mitigating pet homelessness, proactive shelter population management, and infectious disease prevention in shelters.
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