Relief programs benefit veterinarians during pandemic

The American Veterinary Medical Foundation—the charitable arm of the AVMA—has partnered with VCA Animal Hospitals to develop a new COVID-19 Disaster Relief Grant program for veterinarians. Additional funds are also available for a similar program developed earlier this year for veterinary technicians, veterinary nurses and assistants.

VCA Animal Hospitals and the AVMF will each donate $50,000 toward the new program, which will be used to provide $500 grants to meet the immediate needs of AVMA members facing hardship due to the pandemic.

VCA is donating a further $50,000 to the program for veterinary technicians, nurses and assistants. That will be used to award grants to applicants who didn’t get funding initially. While the AVMF received $200,000 in original support for the program, the foundation was only able to award about a quarter of applicants before that funding ran out.

Grants in the new program will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

U.S. vet practices receive more than $2 billion from PPP

More than half of veterinary practices in the country received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, totaling an estimated $2.1 billion.

That’s according to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration analyzed by the AVMA. The association found that at least 18,657 veterinary practices were helped by the program, a product of the CARES Act meant to help small businesses keep workers on the payroll during the pandemic.

According to the data, at least 201,900 veterinary jobs were protected with PPP loans, and more than 80% of loans taken out by individual practices were for less than $150,000.