Animal response kits were added to 18 IU Health ambulances. The kits include pet oxygen masks, restraint devices, enticers, directions on how to perform pet CPR and instructions on how to muzzle animals.
The Monroe County Humane Association partnered with Switchyard Brewing Company and the College Mall Veterinary Hospital to provide the kits for the ambulances.
“We had done kits for all of the fire trucks in Monroe County, so it was really just an extension of that,” said Kimberly Goy, development director of the Monroe County Humane Association.
Goy said it was a matter of making sure emergency personnel in the field were able to help pets in distress. Kelly Mullis, IU Health regional director, South Central Region EMS said animals typically needed assistance in structure fires and vehicle accidents.
Goy said the animal equipment that the ambulances and firetrucks had was old and outdated. The Monroe County Humane Association wanted to provide emergency responders with new supplies.
Switchyard Brewing Company supplied the toolboxes for the kits, and College Mall Veterinary Hospital provided the pet oxygen masks, Goy said. She also said it wouldn’t have been possible without the willingness of the IU Health Department to accept the kits and work with the human association on putting the kits in the ambulances.
“Just acknowledging that we had the support in the community for these kits because otherwise they wouldn’t have been possible,” Goy said. “That was huge.”
Mullis said in an email IU Health was excited to partner with the Monroe County Humane Association to better prepare itself.
Founder and president of Switchyard Brewing Kurtis Cummings said he was a medic with the local ambulance service before he and his business partner opened the brewery.
“We have partnered with the Humane Association on several other fundraising efforts,” Cummings said. “When the Humane Association reached out to us and said they had an opportunity to put these animal rescue kits on the ambulances, it just felt like a natural fit for us.”
