11
DCthe washington post
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thursday, september19
,
2019Wellness
BY JANICE NEUMANNAll I wanted to do was help my
16-year-old cat, Bobo, feel a bit
better, allowing him to live out his
remaining d ays in comfort despite
his health issues. But when I took
Bobo to our veterinary clinic for
several appointments during his
last few weeks, I received rushed
and confusing “quality of life” ad-
vice, and Bobo spent an uncom-
fortable few days at the clinic re-
ceiving round-the-clock hydra-
tion. I then booked an appoint-
ment with a hospice vet, but
before the appointment, Bobo be-
came sicker and had trouble
breathing. I brought him to an
emergency veterinary clinic to be
euthanized.
It wasn’t the ending I wanted
for my beloved pet. I felt a pang of
regret when I realized that con-
tacting a hospice veterinarian
sooner might have saved Bobo
weeks of discomfort. When I later
learned about veterinary social
workers, I wished I had been able
to c onsult one to help me navigate
the end-of-life decisions I had
spent weeks a gonizing over.
What are vet social workers?
Ve terinary s ocial workers i nter-
act with veterinarians and pet
owners in clinics, a nimal hospitals
and other settings in four areas:
the link between human and ani-
mal violence; grief and loss; ani-
mal-assisted interaction; and
compassion fatigue management.
I could have used the services fo-
cused on grief and loss — veteri-
nary social workers can stream-
line communication o n treatment
and end-of-life d ecisions, and they
work one-on-one with pet owners
to explain options, answer ques-
tions and provide emotional sup-
port. They also offer outside grief
counseling and grief support
groups.
There is no official count on t he
number of veterinary social work-
ers. T he U niversity of Te nnessee at
Knoxville — which e stablished t he
country’s first program in 2002
and offers three certificates — has
an Internet mailing list of about
1,000 individuals, though some
may not be veterinary social
workers.
In c ompassion-fatigue m anage-
ment, pet social workers support
veterinarians and staffers, whose
job stresses include performing
euthanasia and d ealing with emo-
tional and demanding clients.
A study in t he Journal of the Amer-
ican Veterinary Medical Associa-
tion published in January exam-
ined the records of 11,620 veteri-
narians who died between 1979
and 2015 and found their rates of
suicide were significantly higher
than for t he general population.
“There’s a growing awareness
about veterinarians’ mental
health and I think that has moti-
vated veterinarians to recognize
they can’t do it all by themselves
all the time,” said Elizabeth
Strand, founding director of the
University of Te nnessee program.
“They’re more willing to work in-
ter-professionally, so they don’t
have to be both the counselor and
the medical professional.”
While many animal clinics may
not have the financial resources t o
employ a veterinary social worker,
some clinics share the cost or hire
interns f rom universities.Why we need them
One of the reasons we need
veterinary social workers is the
changing relationship between
humans and their animal com-
panions. Many people treat their
pets l ike children and e xpect them
to b e treated a ccordingly by veteri-
narians. Data from the 2018 Gen-
eral Social Survey, gathered by re-
search organization NORC at the
University of Chicago, showed
that 76 p ercent o f adult pet owners
nationwide almost always consid-
ered t heir pets p art of the family.
“I think animals have more of a
place in the family than they used
to and we’re more involved in the
lives o f our p ets,” s aid Joanne Full-
er, a veterinary social worker at
Blanchard Valley Veterinary Clin-
ic in Findlay, Ohio. “People have t o
some degree always had a rela-
tionship with their pets, but since
we’ve moved from a society of
farming to having them in our
homes, I think there’s more of a
connection there.”
Sandra Brackenridge, a veteri-
nary social worker and consul-
tant, agrees. “It’s a more compli-
cated relationship than it used to
be w hen companion animals lived
outside and h ad fleas,” s he said.
Fuller said there a re more medi-
cal options for p ets today, a nd they
can live longer, too. “In the past, I
think we lost pets more frequent-
ly.” s he s aid.
Rachel Wright, a veterinary so-
cial worker at Summit Veterinary
Referral Center in Ta coma, Wash.,
said veterinary care is similar to
human health care in many ways,
and clients have high expecta-
tions. To day many veterinary clin-
ics have “nurses” who administer
drugs, monitor animals during
operations and take X-rays, and
specialty clinics have vets trained
in internal medicine, ophthalmol-
ogy, and sports medicine and re-
habilitation, among other special-
ties. “If a person is diagnosed with
cancer, they go to see an oncolo-gist, look at treatment options —
we see a lot of that with animals,”
she said.
Brackenridge points out that
many owners don’t h ave pet insur-
ance. “The expense of veterinary
medicine is extraordinarily taxing
for so many families,” she said.
That only adds to the emotional
toll.How vet social workers help
Veterinary social workers can
help ease that emotional toll in
many ways. Fuller helps clients at
her Ohio clinic conduct q uality-of-
life assessments — looking at how
many good days their pets have vs.
bad — and consider t heir financial
and care limitations. (She recom-
mends a quality-of-life question-
naire from Ohio State University’s
Veterinary Medical Center.) She
also helps with “anticipatory
grief” — searching for ways to
make those final days good — and
offers p rivate grief counseling.
Wright a nd h er team i n Ta coma
make bereavement calls to every
client whose pet dies or is eutha-
nized. They also offer grief coun-
seling, pet loss support groups
and art therapy. “The ability to
have somebody else go in that
room a nd help them w ith t he emo-
tional pain allows me t o step away
and have time for o ther clients and
patients while still providing a
very high level of support for the
client as they need it,” s aid Sarah
Gillings, a veterinary oncologist
and the clinic’s founding owner
and medical d irector.Counseling and group support
were lifesavers for Kimberly Aho,
whose Shiloh-Shepherd, Ryker,
was treated and euthanized at the
center. Veterinarians thought he
might have degenerative myelop-
athy and referred him to a veteri-
nary neurologist, but he woke up
one morning before the appoint-
ment u nable to stand o r walk.
Aho, 44, who lives in Fife,
Wash., felt so guilty and trauma-
tized by the loss that she spent a
year in private sessions with
Wright and another in one of
Wright’s pet-loss support groups.
She said i t helped t o share her g rief
with s omeone who understood.
“I think she has a level of empa-
thy and understanding t hat a grief
counselor maybe would have but
when it’s specialized with what
[clients and social workers] call
our ‘heart dogs,’ you’re able to
share things with her, and she’s
able to hold what we call the ‘ heart
space’ ( the g rief, s adness a nd emo-
tion),” said Aho, a registered den-
tal assistant.
Aho said Wright also suggested
practical ways to feel better, such
as journaling, art therapy and
finding meaning in her loss. Aho
created Ryker’s “Legacy of Love,”
paying for the transfer of 13 dogsfrom “kill” shelters to animal-res-
cue organizations.
Becky Murray, a counselor at
the Veterinary Specialty Center in
Buffalo Grove, Ill., who is a certi-
fied veterinary technician with a
master’s in clinical psychology
and licensed as a clinical counsel-
or, said her experience working
with veterinarians and pets
helped her understand the stres-
sors t hey face.
“A lot [of clients] feel angry, let
down,” Murray said, and say their
vet didn’t have time for them.
While Murray’s background al-
lows her to understand how busy
veterinary clinics c an get, she said
she responds “from the mental
health perspective, s upporting the
client.”
Having Murray on hand is an
“enormous relief,” said Mimi Noo-
nan, a veterinary internist at the
clinic. “Our j obs are wonderful b ut
stressful,” Noonan wrote in an
email. “Becky h as t ime available t o
help families process decisions
and discuss options during highly
stressful days.”
Noonan added that the craft
projects and puzzles in the break
room that Murray provides and
her tips for self-care help staff
relax during stressful days. “Becky
reminds us to laugh, have fun and
celebrate our work friendships, as
well as to be aware and respectful
when we are in the ICU and upset
families are visiting their pet,”
Noonan s aid.
In hindsight, I knew the veteri-
narians and technician who fol-
lowed Bobo were under tremen-
dous stress. B ut I think their focus
was on cure or euthanasia, where-
as mine was on comfort care. A
veterinary social worker might
have b een able to help me c ommu-
nicate better with staff and recog-
nize earlier that a bustling clinic
was actually diminishing my cat’s
quality of life and t hat home veter-
inary hospice care would be my
best bet.
[email protected]Janice Neumann is a health and
wellness writer in Chicago.Vet social workers are
here for your pet issues
ISTOCK
Pet social workers are available to help with grief and loss, animal-
assisted interaction and more.Call for details. 202-621-8552
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