Jen Reeder
A 112-year-old animal welfare organization in Denver recently opened an innovative veterinary hospital to treat pets in underserved communities while educating the public about veterinary medicine – and inspiring the next generation of professionals.
The nonprofit Dumb Friends League (aka “the League”) partnered with Colorado State University to launch the Dumb Friends League Veterinary Hospital at CSU Spur, which opened its doors in January 2022.
“We look for the opportunity to eliminate suffering, to keep the family intact, and to help families who have otherwise limited resources avoid having to make an economic euthanasia decision because they can’t afford the care that’s required,” said Jodi Buckman, CAWA, vice president of community services for the League, which also runs a large animal shelter and mobile spay/neuter clinics.
To that end, the entire second floor of the hospital offers spay/neuter services for cats, which are free for community cats (formerly called “feral”) and low cost for owned cats. On the first floor, veterinary teams offer deeply discounted urgent care for sick or injured dogs and cats, ranging from full-mouth dental extractions, laceration repair, and lumpectomies to emergency surgical services and amputations.
It’s all based on the honor system – and easily viewed by the public. Each room has windows (some with curtains) so onlookers can see what goes into veterinary care.
“This ties into the focus of Fear Free: we do surgeries on view when we have the permission of the family to do so,” Buckman says. “If there’s some reason they don’t want it on view, we do have a surgical suite that is off view. We honor the wishes of the family.”
But many surgeries are viewable. To help people understand what they’re watching, docents stand on the public side to answer questions. They wear headsets to be able to communicate with the veterinary teams on the other side of the glass. Many members of the team are bilingual in English and Spanish.
There are cameras, too: both a fisheye camera that gives a birds-eye view of everything going on, and a camera in the light over one of the exam tables so that whoever is watching can focus on the surgical field of view and see what the doctor is doing, Buckman says.
“The public space is elevated above the surgical floor, so the view into the room is quite good if you’re sitting outside the glass,” she says. “You’re kind of sitting above the surgical suite, looking down at the doctor and the table.”
During the week, many onlookers are children on school field trips. Visits are free.
“Watching our doctors work, they are just completely entranced,” Buckman says. “And right outside the viewing area there are mock exam rooms, so the kids can watch us work and then go into mock exam rooms, work with a stethoscope and some stuffed animals, and fill out a physical exam sheet. So it’s also tactile and hands-on for the kids who visit.”
The hospital is part of the campus’s Vida building, which it shares with the Temple Grandin Equine Center, a facility that provides horse-assisted therapy and an equine sports medicine clinic. There are museum-type exhibits throughout the building where visitors can interact with digital images of horses, dogs, and cats. Bilingual displays share information about different careers in animal health, including veterinarian, veterinary technician, and wildlife biologist.
Additionally, Colorado State University is offering scholarships to students from the immediate neighborhood to help explore careers in those fields.
“It’s reaching way out into the future and trying to really inspire a far more diverse population than we see today in animal health careers, in sparking that passion and that interest,” Buckman says. “We’re hoping that when they’re watching our teams work, when they’re talking to our teams, these kids can begin to see themselves doing that work.”
The hospital also aims to boost transparency so that kids and adults alike can appreciate the role of veterinary teams in helping their furry family members.
“Let’s not do things behind closed doors, but rather engage people who are so passionate about companion animals, who can fully integrate these dogs and cats into our lives as members of our family,” she said. “They have an opportunity to more intimately understand that these are all things involved in managing a pet’s health. Their veterinarian and the support team are partners in doing that work. … Pets are family.”
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
Award-winning journalist Jen Reeder is former president of the Dog Writers Association of America.
For more information about the Dumb Friends League Veterinary Hospital at CSU Spur, visit: https://www.ddfl.org/dumb-friends-league-veterinary-hospital-at-csu-spur/
Photos courtesy of the Colorado State University System
