veterinary services
veterinary services
About one-third of Americans live in veterinary care deserts. In these places, cost or distance puts a basic vet visit out of reach, and many animals have never seen a veterinarian.
Greater Good Charities sends expert mobile surgical teams straight into underserved communities. Our specially trained veterinary professionals provide high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgeries at no cost, held to the highest medical standards. One clinic can perform up to 300 surgeries a day. In four days, we can do what might take local providers six months to a year.
Limited access to veterinary care can have serious consequences for animal welfare, public health, and community well-being. Without access to spay/neuter services, animal populations can grow beyond what local shelters and communities can reasonably support, increasing overcrowding and the risk of disease. As shelters become overwhelmed, resources are diverted from adoptions, facility improvements, and long-term community initiatives to address immediate needs. In vulnerable settings, including refugee camps, unmanaged animal populations can also increase the risk of bites, sanitation challenges, and the spread of zoonotic diseases, creating additional health and safety concerns for families.
- We increase local shelter capacity. We complete months of surgeries in just a few days. That frees shelters to put their limited resources toward programs for animals and people, and to plan for long-term sustainability.
- We protect animal and human health together. Vaccinations and medical care for animals lower public health risks and help build safer, healthier communities.
- We manage pet overpopulation humanely. We believe surgical sterilization is the most effective and humane way to control animal populations.
- We bring normalcy to families in crisis. Pets are loved members of the family. In refugee camps and disaster zones, a healthy pet can be a source of comfort and stability.
How We Work
Our mobile clinics go beyond surgery. Every animal we treat can receive:
- Spay/neuter surgery: high-quality and high-volume, at no cost to families
- Essential vaccinations: to protect pets and the people around them
- Microchipping: to help lost pets get home
- Flea and tick prevention: to keep pets healthy between vet visits
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Wherever the need is greatest
We go wherever the need is greatest: isolated farming communities in Washington, remote Alaskan islands, communities in Ukraine, and cities where demand outpaces local veterinary capacity. We believe the well-being of people, animals, and the environment are linked. When we show up for one, we help protect them all.
Amplifying the good on the ground
We work closely with local animal welfare organizations to promote the benefits of spay/neuter and strengthen community-based animal welfare efforts. By building relationships with local volunteers and advocates, we help foster a network of dedicated individuals who continue supporting their communities long after a clinic ends. Because our services are free, local partners can preserve their limited resources for other long-term needs.
From the moment I drove up to drop off, to picking up the kittens was such a positive and easy process. Everyone was kind, loving, and easy to work with.
So much more provided than I ever dreamt of. We were just blown away.
When I arrived home and told my husband about all the good that was done, he said, 'now that is a charity I can get behind!!'
-Clinic Participant
Dr. Ruth Parkin, our Executive Vice President of Veterinary Services, explains how Greater Good Charities' High-Quality, High-Volume Spay/Neuter Clinics help reduce pet overpopulation and suffering.
Veterinary Services is only possible thanks to donors like you and our generous partners and sponsors.
HQHVSN is defined as “high-quality, high-volume, spay/neuter”. It is safe (high-quality) and effective (high-volume). Our veterinary services team uses the highest standards of safety, medical care, and professionalism, including: 1) Expert HQHVSN veterinary surgical teams 2) High-quality veterinary equipment to maximize efficiency and safety for patients and staff. 3) Best practices via the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) spay/neuter guidelines for surgical procedures, including sterilization ID via tattoo and/or ear tips.
We take a holistic approach by meeting with and listening to local communities, conducting a survey to identify areas with the greatest potential for success, and then putting a plan in motion. Our aim is to make an effective long-term plan for each community we help that is as agreeable as possible to everyone on the ground at the public, city, county, and state levels.
Each community’s needs are different, so our approach includes a full examination of the local needs, including conducting surveys, interviews, and meetings with local community leaders, and other tactics to gauge the appropriate crew size and target number. Multiple rounds of HQHVSN clinics are conducted to maximize effectiveness and impact. Our full-scale teams have the capacity to perform up to 300 surgeries per day, but often smaller teams can make a bigger impact.
We believe high-quality, high-volume (HQHV) sterilization combined with working with local trapping teams is the most effective means of dog/cat population control. Many communities do not have the resources to perform the type of HQHVSN needed to effectively and humanely control unwanted animal populations. Our clinics enable communities with limited access to veterinary services to have the opportunity for safe sterilization for community and owned pets.
We deploy specially trained, high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) surgical teams and work with local trapping teams to help control pet overpopulation in communities that need it most by reducing the human-animal conflict and the burden on animal shelters to euthanize unwanted pets. We work at the request of local organizations to target the animals most in need. In this manner, we do not operate on an individual appointment basis. We strongly encourage you to seek support through your local animal welfare organization(s) or veterinary clinic(s) that provide spay/neuter surgical services. This information should be readily available through a simple internet search.
If you are a non-profit organization looking to partner with Greater Good Charities or our Veterinary Services team please complete this assessment survey below.
Read More About our Impact
Vet Technicians and Assistants:
- Assist with physical exams, premedication and induction of anesthesia, surgical preparation, anesthesia monitoring, administering vaccinations, pack & prep of instruments, assisting with recovery, and assisting the surgeons as needed.
- Must be able and comfortable lifting up to 50lbs
- Helpful technical skills: placing intravenous catheters, administering medications, intubation, surgical prep, and anesthesia monitoring,
Veterinarians:
- Perform HQHV canine and feline spay/neuter surgeries (40-80 per day)
- Perform physical examinations or assist in recovery of patients based on areas in need during the clinic.
- Assist with intake/discharge of public and trapped animals.
- Direct communication with clients
- Data Entry
- Sort, organize, and maintain all paper records.
Helpful skills: familiarity with Google Docs, Google Sheets, and attention to detail.
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Spanish speakers are occasionally needed on clinics, depending on location. Spanish speaking volunteers who can effectively communicate will be utilized for: owner communication & translation, and education efforts in addition to medical duties.
Local and/or out-of-area volunteers are always welcome to volunteer – even if they are not veterinary medical professionals. Duties can include supervised assistance with patient recovery, patient intake and discharge, community outreach, and other activities based on your level of knowledge and experience.
All volunteers will be utilized in areas where their skills will provide the most benefit for the success of the clinic. The clinic days can be long and strenuous. Please recognize that our goal is efficiency and safety for patients, volunteers, crew and all participants involved.
Veterinary Services HQHVSN is led by
Dr. Ruth Parkin, who has been successfully executing high-quality,
high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) since 2002. The surgical teams used
by Greater Good Charities are powered by the ViDAS volunteer network, which has worked with
Dr. Parkin since 2002 on HQHVSN projects.
Dr. Ruth Parkin grew up on a small family farm in the US Pacific Northwest and attended University of Washington in Seattle for her undergraduate degree in economics. She attended veterinary school at Colorado State University, where, as a second-year veterinary student she co-founded ViDAS, an organization which travels internationally to hold free high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter services in underprivileged areas. ViDAS has performed over 40,000 sterilizations and is now a part of the Greater Good Charities programs.
Professionally, Dr. Parkin was in clinical practice for over 10 years and was medical director of a clinic in Denver for several years. She has also worked as a relief veterinarian and spay/neuter surgeon in Colorado and in the Portland, OR area and has traveled to Thailand and South Africa to teach veterinary science through a study abroad program. She is currently the Executive Vice President of Veterinary Services at Greater Good Charities, where she leads our clinics, including our long-running work in Kauai. Dr. Parkin's personal interests include playing volleyball, travel, outdoors, and relaxing anywhere there is some sunshine and a baseball game to watch.
Dr. Margaret Wixson earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine from UC Davis in 2014 and worked as a shelter veterinarian for 10 years.
Dr. Wixson volunteered her time as spay/neuter surgeon for ViDAS and Greater Good Charities clinics for several years before joining the team full-time. Dr. Wixson understands how lack of access to community veterinary care contributes to the challenges faced by animal shelters. By taking spay/neuter and basic veterinary care to underserved communities, we can ease the burden on overwhelmed shelter systems, promote the human-animal bond, and support healthier communities.
Dr. Wixson lives in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest by foot, ski, bike, and kayak, with her husband, Julian, and their dog, Schnapps.
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Morgan was born and raised in Oklahoma and has been involved in animal welfare for the past 9 years. She began volunteering for ViDAS in 2017, where she fell in love with high quality/high volume (HQHV) spay and neuter. This experience led her to a role as the Executive Director at a large shelter in her home state, where she developed and implemented an HQHV spay neuter program, managed animal transport flights, and assisted in multiple cruelty cases.
Morgan enjoys the outdoors and spending time with friends and family. She currently resides in Stillwater, Oklahoma with her dog Rosie, her two cats, Oscar Martinez and Carlos, and her boyfriend, Jared.
Laura grew up in Larchmont NY, graduated from SUNY in Albany with a BA in psychology and minors in criminal justice and business. She started out working at a dog daycare, then as a veterinary assistant at a busy ER animal hospital in upstate NY where she realized she wanted to become a veterinary technician. Laura moved to CO in 2004 to attend Bel-Rea and worked at the Denver Dumb Friends League as an animal care technician until she graduated in 2006 and moved to a Certified Veterinary Technician position at DDFL.
Laura began volunteering on spay/neuter trips with ViDAS in 2008 and became an integral part of the ViDAS team. She tried to attend as many clinics as she could fit in each year until now accepting the job as Director of Veterinary Services!
Laura lives in Aurora, Colorado with her husband, and their 2 dogs. In her free time they like to do yoga, acro yoga, hike, play indoor soccer, paddle board and travel.
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