Earlier this year, a survey conducted by PetSmart Charities and Gallup found that 52% of pet owners in the United States have skipped or declined necessary veterinary care for their pets — despite 97% of them considering pets their family.
Veterinary care costs are especially prohibitive to lower-income pet owners, and some vets are even unable to provide care for their patients due to the owner’s economic limitations.
Free pop-up vet clinics have become one solution to this problem.
Last weekend, in Nashville, Brad Paisley and his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, joined the crusade to help area pet owners access free care for their beloved furry friends.
It was their second-ever free vet clinic event, organized through their nonprofit, The Store, where they teamed up with The Companion Project, serving over 200 local pets with any essential care they needed.
From a standard annual checkup and vaccinations to microchipping and nail trims, volunteer vets with The Companion Project were at the service of community members. Attendees were also given a take-home pack with heartworm, flea, and tick medication, as well as pet food vouchers.
“Our model is that we partner with already existing human organizations that are helping people in need, and so then we partner with them to help the pets of those people,” The Companion Project co-founder Dr. Molly Brinkmann, told WSMV News.
Brinkmann went on to share more information on her Instagram story following the event.
“I could cry. Today was so great,” she said to the camera. “We saw even more pets this year than we did last year. We helped so many pets and their people, and I just am so honored that I was surrounded by all these amazing people in vet med who volunteered to do all of that today.”
Last year, Brinkmann was the one who reached out to The Store to see if she could use their platform to help more pets in need. For Williams-Paisley, it was a no-brainer.
“We would do anything for our dogs, and so to be able to partner with the Companion Project and allow our customers to have that same opportunity is really special,” Williams-Paisley told WSMV News.
Williams-Paisley and her country star husband launched their nonprofit in 2020, offering free groceries to those facing food insecurity in Tennessee, with the goal of building a “hunger-free community.”
Since then, they have opened a second location and expanded their services to reach even more needs community members have, including school supply drives, pop-up free toy stores around the holidays, and more.
“Overall health isn’t just about addressing food needs,” Williams-Paisley wrote in a social media post about this year’s clinic. “We love our customers and their beloved pets!”
She added, in an interview with WSMV News, that part of what she loves about doing this work is meeting the people who utilize The Store and its programs and learning their stories.
“People just talking about, they were making a great living and then all of a sudden, a couple of things happened,” she said. “It was a health issue, or someone had an accident, or whatever it was, and suddenly they weren’t able to make payments like they used to. And certainly, they’re not able to care for their animals the way they used to.”
Her husband, Brad Paisley, echoed the sentiment.
“If you can’t feed your family, if you’re having trouble doing that, this is going to fall by the wayside, too,” he said.
“There’s no pride, I think, lost in bringing an animal in for help.”
For Brinkmann, these services mean even more to the animal community at large.
“We want to keep pets out of shelters, which is part of the reason why we want to do this,” she said, “because this is the reason a lot of people relinquish their pets to shelters; they can’t afford veterinary care.”
After the first pop-up vet clinic at The Store, 100 animals received the treatment they needed, and the Paisleys vowed to host it again. After the growth of this second annual event, it’s clear that the need is there.
Fortunately, the support of caring experts is present, too.
“They’re getting the same level of care that they would be if they were in my office paying me to see them,” Brinkmann added to WKRN News. “It’s just really special to just do that and not have to worry about the money.”
Header image courtesy of The Store
