If experience has confirmed anything for Christine Ackerman Machen and veterinarian Dale Kaplan-Stein, it’s that having a pet can be the closest thing to stability for many peo- ple. Through St. Francis Pet Care clinic in downtown Gainesville, the two help treat the pets of the homeless and low- income families. The clinic first opened in a storage room locat- ed inside a soup kitchen 12 years ago. Earlier this year, Machen and Kaplan-Stein celebrated the
grand opening of the brand new St. Francis Pet Care clinic, a freestanding facility built on land purchased through the generosity of local residents and businesses. Volunteers spent the past five years fundraising and constructing the new, expanded clinic to better serve the Gainesville area. For the roughly 75,000 people that live below the poverty line in Alachua County, there’s no shortage of needs that they struggle to meet each day. Thanks to St. Francis Pet Care, affordable veterinary care isn’t one of them. It began in 2004, when the
Machen family moved from Salt Lake City, Utah to Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Bernie Machen, Chris’s husband, had just become the 11th president of the University of Florida. Chris needed to find a place in
Gainesville to board her horse and was referred to Dale, who lived on a farm with a barn. “When I met Dale, she introduced me to one of her horses, Maggie. That’s my daughter’s name. The name of her other horse was Machen. Well, I knew it was just meant to be.” The two have been best friends ever since. Around the same time, Dale had
two successful veterinary clinics in Gainesville and was well- known as a tireless advocate and volunteer for the community. A graduate of the University of Florida Veterinary School of Medicine, Dale had been contemplating cutting back the hours she worked at her clinics for some time. “Let’s just say that the first veterinarian with whom I practiced medicine graduated school when Penicillin was invented,” said Dale, laughing. What she really had her heart set on was opening a clinic
for pets of the homeless in Gainesville, many of whom were liv- ing in tents scattered across the city. She noticed them panhan- dling near the interchange of I-75 and University Avenue. “I saw that many of them had dogs with them and wondered who was taking care of their medical needs,” said Dale. Meanwhile, Chris was volunteering at St. Francis House, a
homeless shelter and soup kitchen. When Dale mentioned the idea of an animal clinic to help the homeless, Chris knew right away that she wanted to be involved. “If you’re going to do this, let’s do it together. I’m a pedi-
atric nurse — I’ll be your scribe,” Chris remembers telling Dale. The two women approached St. Francis House director Kent
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Vann, who showed them the little-used room at the back of the shelter. Along with Dr. Natalie Isaza from the UF College of Veterinary Medicine and nothing more than a table, a couple of chairs and index cards, the St. Francis House Pet Care clinic offi- cially opened on a Tuesday in August 2007. “We saw one client with her dog that day,” said Chris. Word of mouth quickly spread about the clinic, and the fol-
lowing week more homeless people showed up with their pets. “When we told the crowd that this was going to be an ongoing service for them, they looked at us in disbelief. I could tell they were skeptical, thinking we were just another couple of do-gooders who would tire of it and drop out,” said Chris. The clinic has never missed opening every Tuesday. “Through the heat of sum- mer, rainy season and the cold of win- ter,” added Chris. The new clinic, located at Southeast
Fourth Place and Southeast First Street, still opens to the public once a week between eight o’clock in the morning and noon. There is no paid staff. Everyone volunteers to keep all services free to the neediest pet owners in the community. Experienced local veterinarians provide exams, consulta- tions, vaccinations, and treatment for ailments and injury to the pets of more than 500 local residents. Clients may also pick up food and flea and heartworm preventatives. All dogs and cats must be spayed or neutered before becoming a new clinic patient. Through a grant from The Wagmore Foundation,* spay/neuter surgeries are done by the Alachua County Humane Society. St. Francis Pet Care volunteers will coordinate appoint-
ments and arrange for transportation to the shelter. Three veterinarians were on duty during our spring visit.
More help is always needed, including veterinary professionals, donations of supplies and general community involvement. “Everyone who comes here loves their pets even if they
may be caring for them the wrong way,” said Dale. “A little dialogue with people goes a long way in determining what everyone needs. You see, the best treatment is time, and that’s something that isn’t taught at the veterinary schools,” she said. Volunteering at a clinic such as St. Francis Pet Care offers
the veterinary student invaluable experience. To learn about car- ing at this level, students figure out how to work with minimal resources - kind of like a M.A.S.H. unit. “This place is anything but boring,” said Dale. “It’s always a MacGyver,” added Dale. The morning of our visit, it was very warm. Everyone who
patiently waited outside on the porch to see a veterinarian was friendly. It’s a community of like-minded people, and most were willing to talk about the pet they were holding either in their lap or on a leash. The most common refrain we heard was that their pet is all they have.
Continued on following pageg THE NEW BARKER 27
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