Hello,
I am a practice owner who is a veterinarian with a big heart first, and a superhero ethos to save pets lives second. From this perspective, (and the current ethos of corporate take-overs in the vet sector), the burden of helping more in dire need by offering affordable care has become overwhelming. It was with all of this at our doorstep that we created our own 501c3 about a year ago. The Pet Good Samaritan Fund purpose is to encourage other vet clinics to offer more affordable treatment options to pets in dire need of interventional care. We did this because we know pet parents need help, and we also know pet providers need a safety net to reduce financial loss and risk.
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| Sephora |
My veterinary clinic, Jarrettsville Veterinary Center, is a small animal private practice that has always been committed to helping the pets in our community. We never deny care and we move mountains to make miracles happen. This is a daily endeavor at JVC. Yesterday was our first case that we utilized your platform through. In the past we have done all of our fundraising through our own social media outlets. While I cannot always defeat disease, fate, and the inevitability of death, we have never lost a case from having to resort to economic euthanasia. My whole existence as a human and veterinarian is committed to ending this widely accepted, (and almost unanimously approved vet med community), option. The thought that a deceased disease afflicted/beloved family member is better off dead than taking a financial risk/offer to be compassionate and fulfill our veterinary oath by actually treating the patient, is archaic, cruel, and unjust. I am as vocal about this personally as I am publicly. This profession has strayed from who we wanted to be, and why we are here, and the pet parenting public knows it. Our veterinary suicide rate, the massive buying of hospitals for coroporate profits, and the skyrocketing cost of care prove this. I believe that with key partnerships we can help pets, their families, and veterinary care providers. We can minimize financial risk to providers, and we can all feel good about caring, (and actually practicing medicine), again. It is merely a challenge to think outside of the capitalistic goals shareholders place and start offering palatable, beneficial, meaningful care that everyone can feel good about. I also know that the rest of the veterinary decision making practices need a template and examples of how it can work. Our non-profit and for profit vet hospital have made countless examples of how we can be both doing good and doing well.
Yesterday we saved Sephoras life because of two things; first, her family advocated for her, second we have the ability to do so. The rest of the happy ending outcome was a little bit of trying, asking, finding you, and having the other key factors in place. We have been here before. I am not afraid to try, and I am determined to leave vet med better than I came into it.
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| Surgery prep |
I am hoping to connect with you and make more miracles happen by extending the ask to not just the public at large, but to the gatekeepers; the veterinarians who don't know what tools to access to be a part of a worldwide movement back to compassionate care that really saves lives. The lives of all of us who need our pets as the vital part of our wellbeing and the pets themselves. I truly believe that a big part of the answer to all of the unrest, unhappiness and fear in the world can be solved by protecting the place pets have in our lives.
Thank you for your time and your platform,
Sincerely,
Krista Magnifico, DVM
owner Jarrettsville Veterinary Center
Founder Pawbly.com
Founder Pet Good Samaritan Fund
pet parent, exhausted practice owner, and total-bad-ass pet savior in residence..
PS Sephora's pyometra surgery took me 30 minutes to do. It was the most rewarding, (easiest) surgery of my day. Her moms gratitude was inspiring. This life I live (while exhausting) is so rewarding I wouldn't exchange it for anything. Not a yacht, or a villa, or a tiara. Who else gets to feel this good about 30 minutes of their day? The more you give the more you get back.
We did not do any diagnostics outside of a 1 view lateral xray. We declined everything to put all of our efforts, and resources to her treatment plan. We take risks, there is great reward, and all of us feel good about trying. This is life. You jump in. You give yourself to others. That is medicine at its most powerful.
