GUEST: Dr. Leslie Appel is the founder and executive director of Shelter Outreach Services (SOS). She is also a courtesy lecturer at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Before these roles, Dr. Appel was director of veterinary outreach at the ASPCA. She was also a full-time faculty member at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, where she was an instructor in Small Animal Surgery. And Dr. Appel was the 2013 recipient of the AVMA Animal Welfare Award.

MAIN QUESTION: How can animal organizations provide services to rural communities, which often get overlooked?

TAKEAWAYS:

• Dr. Appel's organization Shelter Outreach Services, or SOS, is specifically designed to meet the needs of rural communities.
• Before starting a program, assess what's going on in your community and surrounding counties to understand what services are needed and who might be able to help.
• Also, get advice from a veterinarian early on in your planning about what's needed to provide veterinary outreach services.
• SOS is set up like the hub of a wheel with its partners as the spokes. Each is essential to success. SOS provides the services and seeks grant funding for big ticket items like anesthesia machines, while its partners who host SOS's MASH-style clinics in their communities do their own fundraising and grant writing to pay for those services.
• If you want to provide high quality, high volume spay/neuter services, veterinarians and veterinary technicians need training because it is generally not taught in school. This is best done by having them observe and work alongside an existing team initially.
• High quality, high volume spay/neuter services are not about speed; it's about creating an efficient flow.

LINKS:

• Shelter Outreach Services
• The Association of Shelter Veterinarians' guidelines for spay-neuter programs
• Leadership recommendation: "How to Read Non-Profit Financial Statements"