PEG Annual Report 2022
Background and History
We are a group of passionate pet owners living on the Olympic Peninsula who originally connected on Next door (a neighborhood on-line program). The interest and concern about the lack of after-hours emergency pet care became apparent. We formed a group called Pet Emergency Group (PEG) to pursue a solution to this critical problem. To describe the problem in more detail, there is NO access to emergency veterinary services for your pet after business hours during the week or on the weekend. Even during the day our veterinarians may not be able to accommodate emergencies due to their busy schedules. The closest 24-hour facility is in Poulsbo, WA. This means crossing the Hood Canal bridge where you may experience delays or closure. Once you get to the facility in Poulsbo there is also often a wait time and sometimes there is no availability, and you must travel to yet another facility in Tacoma or Seattle. Sadly, sometimes it is too late. This situation impacts nearly 65,000 dogs and cats in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
2022 Accomplishments
Our mission is to build, grow, and sustain after hours emergency pet services on the Olympic Peninsula. We formed in December of 2021. Since our inception, we have created a website to provide information and education about where you can find care, the wait time at those facilities, how to protect your pets from accidental injuries, event information, and much more. We also have a monthly zoom meeting to inform the community of our progress. We have completed research to determine that the local veterinarians do not plan to offer this service and we have completed a business plan to evaluate the creation of a 24-7 pet emergency service. This comprehensive business plan shows that a 24-7 emergency pet service is financially viable and solves an urgent need in the community. We are working hard to identify the needed startup funding to recruit emergency veterinarians and remodel or build the facility.
In early 2022, we formed a relationship with the Olympic View Community Foundation and PEG currently operates under their fiscal sponsorship. They have helped provide guidance to our group as a newly formed nonprofit organization and they process all donations.
We have a wonderful leadership team and group of volunteers that are moving forward with our short term and long-term goals. We have steadily raised awareness by offering a booth at the Clallam County Fairs, the Sequim Farmers market, and other events. We are holding meetings with key leaders in the community to make connections and garner ideas for startup funding and recruitment support. We are also working to solve other barriers such as the shortage of labor by working with the Peninsula College to offer a locally based licensed vet tech training program.
We have a robust website with traffic continuing to grow. We also have a small social media presence with an active Facebook page which has shown steady growth in followers. We expect a considerable increase as we plan more growth in our outreach in 2023.
