As many of you know, the Oscar Fund is an account that is filled by donations to be used solely for the purpose of the clinic to be able to provide medical care to a patient whose owner(s) are financially strained and cannot afford treatment. In the past, many of these unfortunate pets were inevitably euthanized due to the owner’s financial restraints. This is a very heartbreaking situation regardless of the circumstance, especially for a young and otherwise healthy pet.
A brilliant mind started this initiative at Van Isle Veterinary Hospital in Western Canada. It has gained popularity all over the country with many clinics opening up their own ‘Oscar Fund’ for their own clientele.
We started our Oscar Fund a few years ago. We had a donation jar at the reception desk and tried various things to grow the pot (Donations for Calendars etc.) Despite our efforts, the pot never really grew to a substantial amount, certainly nowhere near enough to even make a dent in the bill when being faced with a Urinary Blockage, Foreign Body Obstruction, etc.
We last used our Oscar Fund bank account for a sweet, little cat that came in with a very deadly urinary blockage. He was hospitalized and had a urinary unblockage done only two weeks prior at an emergency clinic before we had seen him. Mitten’s owner simply could not afford another hospitalization and medical treatment. He was sadly facing euthanasia. We decided to put our funds towards Mittens treatment and help save his life. Mittens bladder was unblocked and he’s been happy and healthy ever since 🙂 YAYYYY!
This drained our Oscar Fund Account so we began to try and fill it back up again – with no success.
We decided to offer nail trims at half price and put ALL of the money toward our Oscar Fund. WOW….We were overloaded with nail trim bookings! Nail trims are part of our daily routine anyway so why not turn it into something even more wonderful? Some clients, even still, generously paid full price or made an additional donation once they learned what the funds were being used for.
We successfully managed to almost quadruple our pot in 6 weeks. SIMPLY AMAZING! We cannot believe how fast it has grown!
This is definitely something we will be doing on a more regular basis to help our fur-babies in need of medical care 🙂
Written By: Lisa Michalik, RVT
