Wisconsin Companion Animal Resources, Education, and Social Services (WisCARES) is an innovative veterinary and social service organization offering subsidized vet care for low-income individuals as well as services for people in Dane County experiencing homelessness. As a program administered through the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, WisCARES is also a teaching clinic, hosting fourth year veterinary students for 2-week rotations along with social work interns and students from the UW-Madison Schools of Pharmacy and Social Work.
WisCARES was conceived in 2013 and started seeing clients and their companion animals in 2014. As the only resource in Dane County that addresses the health of the animal companions of non-domiciled people, WisCARES depends on donations from caring people to continue to support people and their pets in the decades to come.
“I don’t think I could afford the services if it wasn’t here. I’m thankful, and she likes coming here, too.” -WisCARES client Hope, talking about her dog, China
Making a difference, one pet at a time
Poverty and structural inequality create obstacles to affordable veterinary and pet wellness services similar to challenges of accessing healthy food, education, jobs, healthcare and housing. The extreme lack of access to pet resources is a national crisis.
WisCARES is a unique interdisciplinary program to address this crisis, with goals of:
- Increasing access to veterinary services for low-income and homeless pet owners
- Providing concurrent social services and healthcare support to the same clientele
- Providing participating students with practical training in a One Health setting
WisCARES provides human access to services such as healthcare, emergency shelter and inpatient mental health services. For those experiencing homelessness, WisCARES provides wraparound services, such as housing advocacy, to keep families and their pets together. Responding to the needs of community members and their pets at the same time is an innovative and inspiring opportunity!
WisCARES works with the Humane Society of the United States through the Pets for Life program. According to the HSUS, “Pets for Life is working to transform the lives of dogs and cats by honoring the love people have for their pets, closing the service gap that exists for people and pets in underserved areas and bringing awareness in a new way to larger systemic inequities and injustices.”
Since 2013, WisCARES has seen 15,000 pet appointments and has given 10,000 vaccines to animals in need. During this time we have also trained 250 students.
WisCARES history
In 2013, while trying to serve a person experiencing homelessness and his dog, the dean of the UW School of Veterinary Medicine asked Dr. Ruthanne Chun, then associate dean for clinical affairs, what they could do. The idea of doing street medicine for animals through WisCARES took root. The program became interprofessional that same year, when the dean connected Chun with a professor from the UW Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work.
WisCARES joined the Dane County Homeless Services Consortium to learn more about people experiencing homelessness and their pet care needs. In 2014, School of Veterinary Medicine veterinarians, along with veterinary and social work students, started providing care at the Tenant Resource Center and the Salvation Army with vaccines and basic meds donated by multiple pharmaceutical companies and other organizations.
The team then moved to working out of a donated Quonset hut on Culmen Street and by 2016 began the search for a building where they could charge for services, perform surgery and offer more complete veterinary services.
Since 2018, WisCARES has occupied a 4,200-square foot building housing a boarding and foster program, pet food pantry and a full-service community pet clinic. The facility is located off-campus in a veterinary medical care desert in Madison. The clinic includes exam rooms, a surgical suite, dentistry, digital radiography, ultrasound services, a drug dispensary and an in-house laboratory.
Partnering for pets and their people
WisCARES is a unique collaboration among the UW Schools of Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy and Social Work. It’s a holistic approach, embodying the One Health philosophy that humans, animals and their environment are inextricably linked and the Wisconsin Idea that the benefits of the university should extend beyond campus.
- Since 2018, WisCARES has been a rotation for senior veterinary medical students. During their two weeks at WisCARES, students work directly with clients and their animals with supervision from veterinarians and CVTs. WisCARES aims to develop students into more effective practitioners through a comprehensive curriculum relevant to multiple disciplines that promotes health equity and access to healthcare on a systemic level. Eventually, this curriculum could be adapted to other academic and community-based One Health clinic environments.
- From the beginning of WisCARES in 2013, the School of Social Work sent students to WisCARES clinics. WisCARES hired a social worker in 2017, and she built the foster care and boarding program.WisCARES has hosted social work interns from the School of Social Work since 2018. One to two social work students spend 16-20 hours a week at WisCARES during the academic year, working alongside the full-time social worker.
- Pharmacy students led the way to organize the WisCARES drug dispensary, and the pharmacy school provides annual funds to help support those efforts. WisCARES also hires pharmacy student hourly help as needed.
Veterinary medical and social work students work together and consider social determinants of poverty and health. Students reflect on their own world views and think about how to work with people who come from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Current students in healthcare professions will shape the future and could ultimately solve the access to care crisis; WisCARES provides a space for them to acquire the competencies needed to innovate.
Thank you to our donor partners!
Beyond our university partners, we thank those organizations and companies that support the WisCARES work through generous donations and grants. Please see our list of our industry sponsors.