Shelter and Community Medicine
Community service and outreach are foundations of Midwestern University. The Shelter and Community Medicine Program in Glendale, AZ helps to foster these efforts in veterinary care.
Shelter and Community Medicine Program
The Shelter and Community Medicine program in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Midwestern University, Glendale provides students the opportunity to help people and animals throughout Arizona who otherwise face barriers to accessing veterinary care. This flagship program also partners with animal shelters in the greater Phoenix area to provide medical, surgical, and consultation services.
Our Services
In partnership with animal shelter and community organizations, the Shelter and Community Medicine program routinely provides the following services at no cost:
- Vaccines
- Sick pet services
- Spay and neuter surgeries
- Trap, neuter, vaccinate, and return (TNVR)
General Surgery Procedures
In addition to the routine services listed above, the Shelter and Community Medicine program is also able to offer general surgery soft tissue procedures to patients of our shelter and community partners.
- Limb and tail amputations
- Eye enucleations
- Wound repair
Note: All services listed above are only provided and scheduled through our shelter and community partner organizations. The Shelter and Community Medicine program does not schedule patients directly with the public. Please see the Community Outreach section below for information on how to contact these partners to inquire about services.
Veterinary Mobile Clinic
In addition to services offered on campus, the Shelter and Community Medicine program uses a mobile clinic to reach the populations it serves. This clinic can provide both medical and surgical services to dogs, cats, and pocket pets. The Phoenix metro and surrounding areas are ideal for providing students with opportunities to see every model of animal sheltering and to work with both urban and rural populations experiencing a lack of access to veterinary care. By bringing care to the communities that need it most, the Shelter and Community Medicine program is helping to strengthen the human-animal bond and keeping pets with their families.
The Mobile Clinic is a vital resource for the College of Veterinary Medicine, allowing veterinary services to be provided to populations in remote locations or areas without access to veterinary care and providing real time clinical experiences for veterinary students.
Community Services
Mobile Clinic
The Midwestern University Mobile Clinic is a 33’-long, custom-built clinic-on-wheels. Built in partnership with PetSmart Charities, the Mobile Clinic provides medical and surgical services to communities. It contains on-board kennels and two surgical tables that can be used for spay and neuter surgeries as well as advanced surgical procedures such as limb amputations or mass removals.
Local Mobile Clinic Events
The Shelter and Community Medicine program works with several community partner organizations to coordinate wellness, vaccine, and surgical events throughout the Phoenix area. Clinical year veterinary students on the Shelter Medicine rotation are primarily involved, although participation in weekend events is open to students of any year. Students from all 4 years are invited to participate in weekend events.
Extracurricular Opportunities
Large scale TNVRs
The Shelter and Community Medicine program partners with the Animal Defense League of Arizona (ADLA) to trap, neuter, vaccinate, and return (TNVR) 60 to 80 community cats every other Saturday. If left alone, these cats reproduce at an alarming rate, which can lead to disease and suffering. By providing TNVR services, the Shelter and Community Medicine program helps to prevent cats from reproducing while also protecting people and other animals in the community from disease by vaccinating against rabies. The large-scale TNVR events are student-led, providing veterinary students from all four years opportunities to practice their surgical and management skills. Cats that have received TNVR services are denoted by clipping a small part of the left ear tip. This allows for easy identification of cats that have received services, so they are not trapped again.
- Students from all 4 years are invited to participate in these events.
- Note: If you are interested in bringing in a community cat for our TNVR program, please visit the ADLA Spay Neuter website to schedule.
Overnight Trips
The Midwestern University Mobile Clinic travels throughout the state of Arizona to provide much-needed veterinary services. To help as many families as possible, overnight trips are coordinated with many partners to allow for a variety of services to be provided over consecutive days. Ranging from 2-5 days, these trips involve veterinary students from all years providing medical and surgical care. Frequently, these trips are coordinated with Native American communities. Overnight trips are also done in partnership with local animal sheltering organizations that do not have access to a staff veterinarian.
- Students from all 4 years are invited to participate in these events.
Foster
The Midwestern University Student Chapter of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (SCASV) runs a foster program for animals that require care beyond what a sheltering organization can provide. Veterinary students sign up to be foster caretakers, and medical and surgical services are provided by the Shelter and Community Medicine program.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Midwestern University
The Mobile Clinic was built as a platform to provide hands-on shelter medicine experience for Midwestern University students, while bringing surgical services and basic medical care to animals in remote locations and shelters.
Community Outreach
Community Outreach is the foundation of the Shelter and Community Medicine program. We are fortunate to work with many amazing community organizations that serve vast and varied populations.
Please note that the Shelter and Community Medicine program does not schedule directly with the public. Please use the links below to learn more about our partners.
Meet the Team!
