Student Volunteers Help Boost Health, Adoptions At Animal Welfare League
Posted
Tim Robertson-trobertson@timesuniononline.com
Kimba is a 6-month-old pitbull puppy with one eye.
Her eye was removed when she was brought to the Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County's shelter with serious injuries. Kimba is still recovering from the operation. Last week she needed some of her stitches replaced - not an easy task with a puppy as full of energy as Kimba.Enter Dr. Stephanie Coates and a handful of her students. The students held Kimba while petting her and talking gently to her to help her relax as Coates fixed the stitching and assessed how well the injury was healing.
Coates is a veterinarian who teaches at International Business College, Fort Wayne. Her students are studying to be veterinary technicians. About 36 of her students volunteer at the AWL shelter every week through a cooperative program designed to give students real-life experience working with animals and the shelter helping hands to keep their animals healthy, happy and even make them more adoptable.
The program started in October 2007. Trish Brown, AWL business manager, said animals in her shelter have already benefited in a big way.
"Last year, we were able to reduce euthanizations by 500 animals," Brown said.
She said the extra hands in the shelter mean each animal's health can be monitored in more detail and, since the volunteers are veterinary techs in training, they use their specialized skills to assess the animals' behavior.
Brown said the information the volunteers are able to gather about dogs at the shelter makes a difference in adoption rates. For example, through a series of tests and observations, Coates' students are able to determine how friendly a dog is around people and other dogs. They can tell if the dog is cat friendly, and if it would get along well with children. The shelter records information about each animal on cards posted on their kennels.
"When the students are here and members of the public come in, the students get involved in talking to the public about what they know about these animals," Brown said. "They use their knowledge to help animals get adopted."
Higher adoption rates mean lower euthanization rates.
Elizabeth Hembrook, Milwaukee, Wis., is one of Coates' students. She said experience she and her classmates get through the volunteer program is valuable.
"This is a good experience for us because we have no idea about the animals and then we use the skills we learned in class to figure out what's going on with the animals," Hembrook said. "It's a good learning experience for us. The things that we learn in class we can apply here."
Coates said the hands-on experience her students get volunteering sharpens their skills, which helps them succeed in her program and eventually makes them more hirable.
"It gives them a hand up," she said.
Brown said having the student volunteers has also been a positive experience for shelter staff.
"Having young people and students gives a new energy to the place," Brown said. "It's about passing our values to the next generation."
For more information about the AWL, volunteering opportunities or animals available for adoption, call 574-267-3008 or visit http://www.awl-warsaw.org/
