VetPartners CEO 'Jo Malone' says:
We are asking you, our VetPartners Practices, to join in with our group fundraising effort, by organising some fun events that will capture the imaginations of your clients, family and friends, so that we can all help secure the future of Pets as Therapy. You can set up your own fundraising page from this campaign page and which will really help you to raise money in the current climate of reduced client footfall
Pets As Therapy (PAT) is a national charity founded in 1983. There are approximately 6000 active PAT visiting volunteer teams across the UK who would normally be visiting people in need of companion animal therapy. People who due to their circumstances cannot have access to a pet of their own.
Every week PAT visiting teams help thousands of people in hospitals, care homes, hospices, prisons and schools, but since Coronavirus struck all PAT activities have been halted.
When volunteers visit hospitals, it is not only the patients that receive this stress relief and escapism, it's also the front line staff; people who may have been witness to the most tragic and upsetting outcomes on a daily basis as "part of their job"
Care home residents who cannot keep a pet of their own but previously always had animals at home would normally be able to receive a visit from their PAT volunteer team but now the only contact they have is the staff that are caring for them
Pets As Therapy are determined to weather this storm and the only way is to keep the charity running and to respond to the limitations inflicted on us by lockdown in new and innovative ways... We are trialling virtual Read 2 Dog sessions for children that are isolated at home, the pilot sessions have proved highly successful, this could form the foundation for a similar service within care homes down the line
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
