Carmel Fire Department and MedVet Partner to Help Pets

Writer // Janelle Morrison • Photography // Courtesy of CFD

What a family goes through immediately after a house fire resonates deeply with me. My family lost our home to a fire in January of 1987. I understand that in the wake of the crisis, the last thing that a family needs to be burdened with is dealing with injury to their pets as a result of an emergency.

It is with profound respect for the Carmel Fire Department (CFD) and for the folks at MedVet that I am happy to share the great news—CFD has partnered with MedVet Medical & Cancer Centers for Pets as its preferred choice of emergency pet care. MedVet can receive your pet at its 24/7-365-day-a-year pet emergency room here in Carmel, where they will receive exceptional emergency care.

EMERGENCY CARE FOR YOUR PETS

CFD PIO Tim Griffin shared, “Every year the Carmel Fire Department fights fires in apartments and single-family homes that have family pets. One of our first jobs as firefighters is to search these homes for not only victims but also pets and get them outside to safety. Once outside, CFD has been fortunate enough to have pet oxygen masks and be able to provide CPR to those pets.”

Up until partnering with MedVet, those were CFD’s limits of care to pets. They simply didn’t have the means or facility to takes pets in who needed more definitive care.

Griffin added, “If your dog or cat is injured as a result of a fire, serious accident, special rescue or any other situation that requires the Carmel Fire Department, MedVet will be ready to help. After the ambulance arrives at

their facility, MedVet’s team will meet the ambulance and your pet at the door and immediately take over care to help your pet. MedVet’s facility has the capability to provide life-saving care through their advanced technologies, distinguished doctors and caring and compassionate staff.”

MedVet Medical & Cancer Centers for Pets Hospital Director Kalen Guffin-Allen added, “When we reached out to CFD, we were trying to figure out how we—as a specialty service—in an emergency could give back. We did [pet] CPR training with CFD, and then Tim [Griffin] brought this up and we all started talking about this program.”

MedVet understands that having a pet emergency is very difficult, so as part of its partnership with CFD, they want to take the stress and finances off the table for the first 48 hours. MedVet will provide all possible life-saving emergency care completely free of charge for 48 hours after the pet’s arrival.

Allen concluded, “We thought this would be an amazing service as we know that the first 24–48 hours is critical time for the pet right after an emergency, and it’s such a difficult time for the families. So many people don’t have that plan made out. Our community has been so great to us, and we’re blessed to be in the Carmel community, so this [partnership] made sense. Our team is proud of our hospital and in the work that they do, so they wanted to take their talents and their compassion and give it back to the community in this way.”

As a fresh holiday season settles over Carmel, revelry and song fill the halls and fends off the chill as The Stratford collective gather and visit with family and friends, all in the safety of their perfectly wonderful community.

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