SAVMA PHCOC, SAVMA Vet Gazette Submission for Covelo Clinic

Established in 2012, Covelo Clinic strives to improve animal health and welfare in

Covelo, a small town in Mendocino County that struggles with pet overpopulation and access to

veterinary care due to financial and transportation restraints. The clinic provides vaccinations,

preventatives, spay and neuter surgeries, owner education, and other veterinary care. Covelo

Clinic is completely volunteer run, with veterinarians, veterinary students, registered technicians,

and community members coming together to provide care for the animals of Covelo. Partnering

with a local nonprofit organization, Better Options for Neglected Strays (BONES) Pet Rescue,

Covelo Clinic currently conducts 2-3 field clinics each year, serving hundreds of patients in the

span of two days. Most of the clinic equipment is transported from Davis to Covelo, set up on the

first day, and taken down and packed up once the last patient has been seen. This clinic is

completely donation based. Equipment, medications, vaccines, and preventatives are all donated

or purchased with donations from UCD, SAVMA, and the Covelo community.

Every clinic, clients begin lining up 12 hours before the clinic doors are opened in order

to secure a spot for their dogs to be seen. The closest veterinarian to Covelo is over an hour away

and is close to retiring. On top of this, the median yearly income in Covelo in 2019 was 18,730

USD. Some residents of Covelo lack reliable transportation, and the closest veterinarian has

quoted over $800 for house calls, which is an unfeasible financial burden for many people in the

area. Every clinic, residents of Covelo bring cats and dogs with lacerations, embedded foxtails,

eye injuries, masses, and other medical problems that would have otherwise gone untreated. A

lack of access to preventative care combined with a high tick burden in Covelo also leads to a

high incidence of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and anaplasmosis in these animals.

Covelo clinic provides education about tick-borne diseases to owners as well as flea and tick

preventatives for patients in order to decrease this problem. Additionally, due to the lack of a

local veterinarian, the majority of the animals in Covelo were not sterilized prior to the

establishment of this clinic in 2012. Because of this, the Covelo community struggles with pet

overpopulation. BONES Pet Rescue has been rescuing and providing veterinary care for this

struggling pet population since 1998. BONES operates on a very limited budget and is

completely donation and volunteer based. Covelo Clinic strives to lessen the burden both by

decreasing the expansion of the pet population via spay and neuter surgeries as well as providing

BONES with medical advice and support.

Covelo Clinic could not operate without the incredible support from this community,

especially without the support from BONES Pet Rescue. On top of a core group of 16 veterinary

student clinic coordinators, our volunteer team includes roughly 5 veterinarians, 3 veterinary

technicians, 40 veterinary students, and 4 pre-veterinary undergraduates per trip. Clinic

coordinators work intimately with BONES to run the field clinics, and BONES connects the

community to the clinic through advertising and decreasing barriers to access by facilitating

transport. While clinics are running, members of BONES collaborate with clinic coordinators to

intake patients and assist with equipment (eg: oxygen tank refills), creating smooth clinic flow.

Furthermore, to ensure that veterinary students are cognizant of the community’s background

and needs, the BONES founder discusses BONES’ history and mission at the orientation prior to

every clinic. This clinic is dependent on a flourishing partnership with the community of Covelo.

Over the course of a weekend, the clinic performs approximately 100 wellness exams.

During these appointments, veterinary students gather patient histories and perform physical

exams, administer vaccines and dewormers, and for more complicated cases, run diagnostics to

better understand how to effectively treat their patients. Diagnostics performed at Covelo Clinic

include ear cytologies, fine needle aspirates, packed cell volumes, blood smears, skin scrapings,

and more! Perhaps most importantly, students gain invaluable experience communicating

directly with clients to gather patient histories, educate on disease and prevention, and conduct

post-surgical discharges. Over 100 surgeries (spays, neuters, mass removals, and amputations)

are also performed over the weekend. For surgeries, one student monitors anesthesia under the

guidance of a veterinary technician, while another acts as an assistant to the veterinarian

performing the surgery. Veterinary students gain invaluable experience placing catheters and ET

tubes, calculating and administering anesthetic drugs, and recovering patients from anesthesia,

all under the guidance of veterinary professionals. 

Covelo Clinic was established with two goals in mind: improve the health and wellbeing

of the animals in the underserved population of Covelo, and provide veterinary students with

practical experience. It is through generous donations and community support that we hope to

continue to reach these goals!

Established in 2012, Covelo Clinic strives to improve animal health and welfare inCovelo, a small town in Mendocino County that struggles with pet overpopulation and access toveterinary care due to financial and transportation restraints. The clinic provides vaccinations,preventatives, spay and neuter surgeries, owner education, and other veterinary care. CoveloClinic is completely volunteer run, with veterinarians, veterinary students, registered technicians,and community members coming together to provide care for the animals of Covelo. Partneringwith a local nonprofit organization, Better Options for Neglected Strays (BONES) Pet Rescue,Covelo Clinic currently conducts 2-3 field clinics each year, serving hundreds of patients in thespan of two days. Most of the clinic equipment is transported from Davis to Covelo, set up on thefirst day, and taken down and packed up once the last patient has been seen. This clinic iscompletely donation based. Equipment, medications, vaccines, and preventatives are all donatedor purchased with donations from UCD, SAVMA, and the Covelo community.Every clinic, clients begin lining up 12 hours before the clinic doors are opened in orderto secure a spot for their dogs to be seen. The closest veterinarian to Covelo is over an hour awayand is close to retiring. On top of this, the median yearly income in Covelo in 2019 was 18,730USD. Some residents of Covelo lack reliable transportation, and the closest veterinarian hasquoted over $800 for house calls, which is an unfeasible financial burden for many people in thearea. Every clinic, residents of Covelo bring cats and dogs with lacerations, embedded foxtails,eye injuries, masses, and other medical problems that would have otherwise gone untreated. Alack of access to preventative care combined with a high tick burden in Covelo also leads to ahigh incidence of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and anaplasmosis in these animals.Covelo clinic provides education about tick-borne diseases to owners as well as flea and tickpreventatives for patients in order to decrease this problem. Additionally, due to the lack of alocal veterinarian, the majority of the animals in Covelo were not sterilized prior to theestablishment of this clinic in 2012. Because of this, the Covelo community struggles with petoverpopulation. BONES Pet Rescue has been rescuing and providing veterinary care for thisstruggling pet population since 1998. BONES operates on a very limited budget and iscompletely donation and volunteer based. Covelo Clinic strives to lessen the burden both by decreasing the expansion of the pet population via spay and neuter surgeries as well as providingBONES with medical advice and support.Covelo Clinic could not operate without the incredible support from this community,especially without the support from BONES Pet Rescue. On top of a core group of 16 veterinarystudent clinic coordinators, our volunteer team includes roughly 5 veterinarians, 3 veterinarytechnicians, 40 veterinary students, and 4 pre-veterinary undergraduates per trip. Cliniccoordinators work intimately with BONES to run the field clinics, and BONES connects thecommunity to the clinic through advertising and decreasing barriers to access by facilitatingtransport. While clinics are running, members of BONES collaborate with clinic coordinators tointake patients and assist with equipment (eg: oxygen tank refills), creating smooth clinic flow.Furthermore, to ensure that veterinary students are cognizant of the community’s backgroundand needs, the BONES founder discusses BONES’ history and mission at the orientation prior toevery clinic. This clinic is dependent on a flourishing partnership with the community of Covelo.Over the course of a weekend, the clinic performs approximately 100 wellness exams.During these appointments, veterinary students gather patient histories and perform physicalexams, administer vaccines and dewormers, and for more complicated cases, run diagnostics tobetter understand how to effectively treat their patients. Diagnostics performed at Covelo Clinicinclude ear cytologies, fine needle aspirates, packed cell volumes, blood smears, skin scrapings,and more! Perhaps most importantly, students gain invaluable experience communicatingdirectly with clients to gather patient histories, educate on disease and prevention, and conductpost-surgical discharges. Over 100 surgeries (spays, neuters, mass removals, and amputations)are also performed over the weekend. For surgeries, one student monitors anesthesia under theguidance of a veterinary technician, while another acts as an assistant to the veterinarianperforming the surgery. Veterinary students gain invaluable experience placing catheters and ETtubes, calculating and administering anesthetic drugs, and recovering patients from anesthesia,all under the guidance of veterinary professionals. Covelo Clinic was established with two goals in mind: improve the health and wellbeingof the animals in the underserved population of Covelo, and provide veterinary students with practical experience. It is through generous donations and community support that we hope tocontinue to reach these goals!