One of the most common questions from the veterinary community when I am lecturing about disaster preparation at veterinary conferences is How can I get involved? Or How can I help?

A desire to help others in distress is a wonderful trait that runs through the veterinary medical family.  It is what drives many of us to enter the profession initially.  So, it makes perfect sense that in times of disaster, whether it is a hurricane or an emerging infectious disease like COVID-19, veterinarians and technicians want to be part of the solution.  

Are you wondering where the problem is with this situation?  People need help and we found a pocket of people who want to provide help – it’s a no brainer, right?!  Well, not exactly and I will explain below.

 Convergent, unaffiliated, or spontaneous volunteers as described by one emergency management entity as, “well-intended but inexperienced volunteers whose efforts have sometimes hindered rather than helped response and recovery operations.”1

No matter how often or how wide-spread the information is regarding “self-deployment” to areas impacted by disasters, people still “report for duty” woefully unprepared and typically become part of the problem to be managed by the response apparatus draining needed resources from the response itself.  Still, the issue remains, how can a compassionate veterinary professional support their community or yours during disaster response, and more importantly, recovery?

Multiple avenues already exist for veterinary professionals to scratch that disaster response itch.  Veterinarians are particularly helpful resources during public health emergencies such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.  Indeed, the National Veterinary Response Team has already deployed multiple times during this current outbreak.  What is the benefit for licensed veterinarians to respond as part of an official structure?  

First, the very license that veterinarians hold is the most compelling reason.  Individual veterinary licenses are not portable.  Once a veterinarian crosses state lines, they need to be granted the privilege to practice by that new state.  

However, if part of an official response entity, such as the Medical Reserve Corps or the National Veterinary Response Team, this complication is resolved.  Additionally, if practicing outside your normal circumstances, such as an exclusively small animal practitioner opining on zoonotic disease prevention/transmission in human special needs shelters that allow service dogs or limited pets, it is good to be shrouded in the cloak of state or federal response liability insurance.  The lone wolf responder has no such legal protection.

If none of these reasons are mitigating your compulsion to jump in the car and drive to a disaster site, consider the fact that you may not be the help that is needed.  While the impacted population may not need you, it does not devalue your capability or diminish your good intent.  

It has become readily apparent to most that the “pull vs. push” concept is most effective.  A well-intended “push” of perceived resources from the outside is not helpful, but, again, occupies resources to manage. Waiting for the impacted population to request necessary aid to fill existing and confirmed needs/gaps is the most effective method by which to provide support to response.2 Veterinarians are not likely to be needed is large numbers until 2-3 weeks post-impact as human needs will appropriately be addressed first.   

 Now that you are feeling totally superfluous and a bit silly in your drive to provide compassionate support to your fellow humans, let go of that silliness!  We all need support of our fellow human beings during times of anxiety and disaster!  Take a moment and decide how you can BEST support the response/recovery effort and consider aligning yourself with one of these incredible organizations:

1.     Volunteer Florida. Unaffiliated Volunteers in Response and Recovery. Tallahassee, FL: Volunteer Florida; February 27, 2005. http://www.volunteerflorida.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/UnaffiliatedVolunteers.pdf. Accessed March 25, 2020. Google Scholar.

2.     Jacob, B., Mawson, A. R., Payton, M., & Guignard, J. C. (2008). Disaster mythology and fact: Hurricane Katrina and social attachment. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 123(5), 555–566. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335490812300505