AVMF donates $25,000 to aid Kentucky VMA

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At the end of July and early August, Eastern Kentucky was flooded, destroying towns, and displacing its residents and pets. To help, along with other fundraising efforts, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) announced it committed $25,000 to the Kentucky VMA (KVMA) Foundation to provide support for those providing animals affected by the flooding with food, boarding supplies, and veterinary care.

“Reports on the ground indicate that things are still pretty crazy, with preexisting animal shelters struggling to deal with their structures being impacted by water while simultaneously dealing with large increases of intakes and also with large quantities of donations, mostly food,” explained Warren J. Hess, DVM, disaster coordinator and an associate director in the AVMA Division of Animal and Public Health, in an organizational release.¹

According to the release,¹ this donation helps veterinarians triage, treat, and house sick or injured animals with no cost to the owners who have to face other struggles such as losing their possessions and homes. As of August 17, 2022, the effort remained focused on treating animals still being found with assisting shelters, and pets and their owners are living together at emergency shelters. Although tragedy hit this part of Kentucky, most of the city and county shelters remain standing with both stray and owned pets filling the shelters.

“Shelters in the stricken areas are overwhelmed and many veterinarians are doing pro bono work for those that lost their homes and have pets that are injured and in need of care. We encourage you to join us in supporting our colleagues and animal owners in Kentucky during this time of great need,” explained José Arce, DVM, immediate past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and current present of the AVMF.

Responders are reporting all kinds of animals they are treating have displayed skin issues due to water exposure combined with the high humidity. To organize treating all patients, KVMA will coordinate issues surrounding small animals and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture will take charge of larger animal issues.

“On behalf of the KVMA, our veterinary community is very grateful for the donation from the AVMA Foundation to help with the ongoing needs caused by the devastating floods in eastern Kentucky, expressed Debra Hamelback, Kentucky VMA executive director, “Our veterinary teams in eastern Kentucky have been working tirelessly alongside the local communities providing care and treatments round the clock for animals. The needs of the people and animals of Appalachia will be ongoing for several months, if not years."

To donate or to learn how to receive AVMF grants to provide relief for veterinarians stuck by disasters and for veterinarians treating animals impacted by disasters, visit the AVMF website.

Reference

Kentucky starts to recover from flooding, aided by $25,000 donation from AVMF. News release. American Veterinary Medical Association. August 23, 2022. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.avma.org/news/kentucky-starts-recover-flooding-aided-25000-donation-avmf?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=todays-headlines-news