Good Samaritan Fund

Along with everyone who works in our profession, we agonize over the situations where our clients cannot afford to care for their pets in the way they would like. 

Our hospital is in a particularly difficult position with respect to these cases, because: we’re a new business; we don’t have regular clients; we are only open a certain number of hours in a week; and we try very hard to keep our services relatively affordable while paying ourselves and the folks who work with us a fair wage. All that stuff together means we don’t have a ton of cash in reserve to cushion ourselves against the expense of giving services away. 

We have been actively thinking about ways to fund our in-house Good Samaritan account. It’s not a non-profit, so any “donations” to this account would not count as charitable contributions for tax purposes, which means we have to figure out another way to reward the folks who choose to help.

Here’s what we’re thinking…

  • 10 slots available

    • For 1 year, you have the ability to “forward book” a day in advance. In other words, we’ll give you the ability to reserve a spot in line for your pet on the following day. This is not currently an option we offer anybody.

      • “Blackout” days, when forward booking is not available: limited to the day following a holiday when we are closed (New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day)

    • You will be honored on a plaque in our lobby

    • You will also receive an email with a picture of the pet when funds from your contribution are used to help one of our patients (a la blood donation). Something like “Hi! Wanted to let you know that because of your generosity, a little 8 year old cat was able to have her abscess treated today. She is home recovering with her family now, and feeling much better. Her family did not have the resources to help her, so she would still be suffering without your assistance. Thank you!”

    *If you decide to make another contribution after a year, you will renew your forward-booking access for an additional 12 months!

  • 3 slots available

    Same stuff as the $1,000 level, plus…

    • No blackout days

    • 5-year access to 24-hour forward booking

    • 2 pieces of staff-exclusive swag per year for 5 years

    • Same stuff as the $5,000 level, plus…

    • Lifetime forward-booking access

    • We’ll take you out to dinner and name an exam room after you (seriously)

    • I do not realistically think anybody is going to do this but hey, you never know

Target/Goal

Realistically, a $10,000 fund would be amazing, and would allow us to do SO MUCH STUFF for SO MANY PEOPLE.

However, we’re going to aim high and try to hit $25,000, which is what we’re using to calculate the number of contributions available at each level, which are the little numbers in parentheses after each dollar amount. If we somehow get an unexpected level of interest, we would love to be able to adjust the goal (and available contributions) upward, but we’re not counting on it.

Rules for Fund Use

  • The patient’s family must cover the full cost of the physical exam (currently $135.24)

  • The patient’s family must attempt to qualify for third-party payment plan options before Good Samaritan funds are available for them to use

  • Fund use must not exceed $800 per patient

  • Charges for follow-up visits (suture removal, etc.) are the responsibility of the patient’s family