Veterinary college students from Washington State College discuss to a affected person about their cat’s well being on the Seattle One Well being Clinic. A brand new examine led by the UW discovered that integrating veterinary and human well being care elevated entry to preventative take care of each folks and their pets. Credit score: Prenz Sa-Ngoun
Yearly, almost 2 million younger Individuals expertise homelessness. As many as 1 / 4 of them personal pets, which might be each a vital supply of emotional assist and a barrier to receiving companies akin to housing or medical care. Research have proven that unhoused folks with pets could also be much less more likely to go to medical amenities. Some could select veterinary care for his or her animals over acquiring well being take care of themselves.
The Seattle One Well being Clinic was designed to deal with these obstacles. Led by the College of Washington’s Middle for One Well being Analysis, operated in collaboration with the Washington State College Faculty of Veterinary Drugs, and supported by two nonprofit organizations, the clinic provides free veterinary care alongside its medical companies.
A paper revealed not too long ago within the Journal of Major Care & Neighborhood Well being discovered that the built-in strategy elevated entry to preventative medical take care of each folks and their pets.
“It’s truly integrated—human and animal providers working together is a unique approach,” mentioned Natalie Rejto, lead writer of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher within the Middle for One Well being Analysis.
On the One Well being Clinic, a nurse practitioner and veterinarian, typically accompanied by veterinary college students, present main care companies whereas UW college students volunteer as affected person navigators, serving to to coordinate care and deal with shared well being wants akin to excessive climate, environmental contaminants and zoonotic illness. The clinic additionally helps shoppers doc their pets as emotional assist animals, which permits them to entry a wider vary of housing and different companies.
“The data clearly shows that this model of care is building trust,” Rejto mentioned. “It’s special to see holistic care that takes into account the environment, the animal, the person and their relationships in society, to provide care to these young people. It’s incredibly important for people to have preventative care, and that in turn has a great impact on public health.”
The examine analyzed medical and veterinary information of clinic visits between 2019 and 2022. Nearly all of human contributors had been 23 years outdated or youthful. Of the 88 human shoppers who visited the clinic throughout that interval, 75 noticed a well being care supplier a minimum of as soon as, and 40 sufferers established take care of the primary time in a minimum of the previous two years. Most of these sufferers returned for a minimum of one follow-up appointment inside two years of their first go to.
Most importantly, almost 80% of all visits to the One Well being Clinic resulted in shoppers receiving human well being care. That features 69% of visits the place shoppers initially meant to hunt care just for their pets.
“Adding veterinary care to a primary care clinic creates a supportive environment that is vastly different from a typical medical care facility,” mentioned co-author Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, one of many founders of the One Well being Clinic and director of the UW Middle for One Well being Analysis, who can be a UW professor of environmental and occupational well being sciences and an affiliate professor of drugs within the UW Faculty of Drugs. “This unique atmosphere encourages clients to seek care for themselves as well as their animals.”
A completely built-in mannequin could also be a brand new idea for a lot of, requiring novel partnerships between human well being and veterinary professionals, Rejto acknowledged. However the outcomes recommend that well being care suppliers ought to give better consideration to the well being affect of the human animal bond between folks and their pets.
“Potentially a good start would be to increase collaboration and communication between animal and human health care, to have human health facilities that are in communication with veterinary facilities. That could help identify diseases and shared environmental risks,” Rejto mentioned. “It’s about expanding providers’ and human health care workers’ framework for addressing health.”
Different authors embody Julianne Meisner, a UW assistant professor of world well being and of epidemiology and deputy director of the Middle for One Well being Analysis; Hannah Fenelon, Michael Xie, Alice Tin and Erin Tabor of the UW Middle for One Well being Analysis; Katie Kuehl of the Washington State College Faculty of Veterinary Drugs; Kate Schneier and Andrew Nee of Neighborcare Well being; and Amanda Richer of Uplift Consulting.
Extra info:
Natalie Rejto et al, The One Well being Clinic: Look after Younger Adults and Companion Animals Experiencing Homelessness, Journal of Major Care & Neighborhood Well being (2025). DOI: 10.1177/21501319251345973
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College of Washington
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Integrating human and animal well being care will increase entry to companies for homeless youth (2025, August 4)
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