AVMF offers many forms of disaster assistance

SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — Whether a veterinarian has helped animals impacted by disaster or lost it all in a catastrophe, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) has several resources at the DVM's disposal.

"I'm not sure people know what's available," says Michael Cathey, AVMF's executive director.

AVMF, the charitable arm of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), provides four different types of grants related to disaster relief or disaster preparedness:

• Disaster Veterinary Practice Relief grants are awarded to help veterinarians restore practice infrastructure after a disaster. These grants were created to help replace items not covered by insurance, including animal care. Individual grants are capped at $2,000, and AVMF awarded $7,000 worth of these grants in 2010, Cathey says.

• Disaster Veterinary Animal Care Reimbursement grants are used to pay veterinarians back for the costs they incur caring for animals impacted by disaster. Up to $5,000 can be awarded to applicants under this grant program, and Cathey says a total of $2,000 was awarded in 2010.

• Disaster Preparedness grants are broken up into two categories: start-up grants of up to $5,000 and matching grants of up to $20,000.These grants are awarded to state veterinary medical associations, veterinary medical assistance teams (VMATs) or other organizations for the development of disaster training or preparedness programs. AVMF dispersed $85,000 through this grant program in 2010, plus another $75,000 strictly to VMATs.

• Disaster Training Sponsorship grants are available for national, regional, state and city disaster-related training programs. Cathey says $30,000 in grants were awarded through this program in 2010.

In addition to the structured grant programs, AVMF also contributes to various emergency situations. For example, AVMF contributed $50,000 toward disaster relief efforts in Haiti in 2010, Cathey says.

For more information about AVMF grant programs, or for grant applications, visit avmf.org.