The San Francisco SPCA joined veterinary, sheltering, and animal welfare professionals from across the country at the ASPCA Cornell Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Conference, hosted by Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jena Valdez, led and participated in three sessions focused on one of the most important challenges facing animal welfare today: ensuring that pets and the people who love them can access veterinary care when and where they need it.
Making care more accessible
In her session, “Step by Step: Practical Approaches to Incremental and Contextualized Care in Veterinary Case Management,” Dr. Valdez explored how veterinary teams can partner with clients to develop care plans that reflect each family’s goals, circumstances, and available resources.
Incremental and contextualized care encourages providers and pet guardians to work together to identify practical next steps that support pet health. By prioritizing open communication, shared decision-making, and flexible care plans that can evolve over time, veterinary teams can help more families care for their pets.
This collaborative approach reflects a core belief at the SF SPCA: improving access to care means meeting people where they are, building trust, and finding solutions that work for their unique situations.
Bringing veterinary care to communities
Dr. Valdez also joined colleagues from the ASPCA and Humane Society of Western Montana for the panel discussion, “Stewarding People & Animals at Community Clinics.”
Community-based, pop-up veterinary clinics play an important role in expanding access to care, particularly in areas with limited veterinary resources. These clinics can provide essential preventative services, medical care, and support for pet families who might otherwise face significant barriers to accessing care.
The panel examined how teams can plan and implement these clinics to create safe, effective, and rewarding experiences for clients and staff. Drawing from real-world experience, speakers shared lessons learned about planning, logistics, community engagement, and team well-being.
At the SF SPCA, these conversations are especially relevant as we continue to expand programs that bring care directly into neighborhoods and communities where it is needed most.
Building systems that improve access to care
In her third session, “Access by Design: Building Community-Based Veterinary Care,” Dr. Valdez shared insights from the SF SPCA’s Community Medicine programs and discussed how organizations can help more families access veterinary care.
The session explored how expanding access often requires more than adding new services. It requires understanding the unique role each organization plays within a community and designing systems that complement, rather than duplicate, one another.
By focusing on collaboration rather than competition, veterinary and animal welfare organizations can expand their collective reach, strengthen relationships with the communities they serve, and build a more connected system of care that improves outcomes for pets, families, and shelters alike.
Advancing the future of community and shelter medicine
The Shelter Medicine Conference brought together leaders from across veterinary medicine and animal welfare to share ideas and develop solutions to some of the field’s most pressing issues.
We are proud to contribute to these conversations and to share lessons learned through our work in San Francisco, the Central Valley, and throughout California. By collaborating with peers across the country, we can continue building a future where more pets and families have access to the care they need to thrive.