What Worked

Gaining Endorsement of the JVMS-The time between when the city released the Request for Proposal and bids were due was only thirty days, so it was good that we had a plan on the shelf to use as a template. However it became apparent that there was not enough time to enroll sufficient numbers of clinics to participate in the limited time given. We approached the Jacksonville Veterinary Medical Society and they moved quickly to establish a committee of Veterinarians to negotiate a plan with FCNMHP. By asking for and receiving JVMS endorsement we were able to quickly enroll enough clinics to give the city confidence in our bid.

Changing to having documentation collected at clinics-When the program first started we would have clients mail their documentation to our PO Box where volunteers would verify qualification and then mail our a certificate to take to a participating clinic for surgery. We found this whole process to take around two months to complete before the client could schedule a surgery appointment. Making copies of documentation and mailing to us seemed to be an obstacle many of our clients were not getting done.

Since we are impatient and wanted to get a large number of surgeries completed in a short period of time we felt it was critical to shorten the time frame of the process and to make the entire program more user friendly. We went to each of our participating Veterinarians on an individual basis an requested their assistance in making the program a success. We carefully explained the problem and how we felt having the clinics collect the documentation would greatly increase the number of surgeries performed. With very few exceptions our Veterinarians came to the aid of the program and agreed to collect documentation at their clinics. This has greatly increased the numbers of pets being altered, and possibly even helping to ensure the effectiveness of those surgeries by making the program more user friendly.

Targeting the program at pets of low income citizens-It is known that low-income pet owners make up a greatly disproportionate share of the pet overpopulation problem so it was clear that the Veterinarians and ourselves had the same concerns and goals.

This not only makes our program effective but also addresses the biggest concerns of Veterinarians that people would be getting discounted or free services that they could and should afford to pay for these surgeries.

Including an income qualification guideline-Many similar successful programs accept only the Medicaid card as qualification. We considered at the number of people enrolled in Medicaid and other government assistance programs in our County and felt that we needed to have a larger target market for the program. It is a fact that not all low-income citizens seek government assistance, especially those types that are viewed as “welfare”.

We also believed that those persons considered the “working poor” were contributing greatly to the pet overpopulation problem and would be excluded from SpayJax simply because they did not seek government assistance. It was reasonable to extend the SpayJax program to those whose income could qualify them for some type of government assistance rather they sought that assistance or not. We choose 50% of the median income for our County as our income guideline. We also developed a detailed booklet describing the acceptable types of income documentation.

Staying in contact with Veterinarians-Each clinic was given contact phone numbers where somebody could be contacted at anytime with concerns or questions. One main contact was appointed to deal with Veterinarians and this person took all calls from Veterinarians. Calls to the hotline from clinics or Veterinarians would be passed on immediately to the Veterinarian Contact. Even with this step, communication with clinic owners was a major obstacle. Veterinary drug reps have perfected sales techniques that are very useful in dealing with clinics, if you know and drug reps or other Veterinary suppliers be sure to ask for their input in dealing with Veterinarians/clinic owners.

Responding immediately to Veterinarian concerns-When Veterinarians or their employees did call with any concerns these were immediately answered, almost always in a way that satisfied the Veterinarian. Any time a Veterinarian that was not participating called with a concern I would respond with a personal visit. All concerns were carefully listened to, carefully and fully considered, and then fully responded to in a manner that ensured the Veterinarian knew their opinion and approval was highly valued. This tactic usually resulted in enrolling any Veterinarians who called with concerns about the program if they were not already enrolled. Remember if they take the time to call you and express their concerns that displays a genuine interest in your program, and possibly a real concern to the effectiveness of the program. Veterinarians are Animal People too!

Promotion, lots of it!-I tried to never say no to any chance to promote the program and we were never afraid to try anything at least once. We ran the whole promotions line, from road side signs to billboards, bumper stickers, radio and television. We also never passed up a chance to be on TV programs or to talk on the radio. Most of this cost money and we spent more on the program than we earned in our administrative fee, but if we are going to invest donated funds wisely than this is the place to invest them.

Partnering with ClearChannel Communication-By luck an employee with ClearChannel Communications became very involved with our group. This developed into an excellent relationship with ClearChannel of Jacksonville which owns 7 local radio and 2 local television stations in addition to 85% of all the outdoor billboards in the county. This relationship has been one of the major reasons for the success of the SpayJax program enabling us to get the word out on our program at amazingly economical rates. It would take an immense amount of work to get the same value of promotion through hanging posters and distributing brochures that our relationship with ClearChannel has provided.

Allowing Veterinarians to promote the program individually-An added benefit to having the documentation collected at the clinics was the ability of each clinic to promote the program both to their existing clients, in their neighborhood and through other marketing means. This meant when the promoted program to existing clients they could be sure they were the only ones having contact with their client. Our television advertising was actually initiated by one of our Veterinarians and at first we were a passive participant, just supplying part of the funding. When we saw the success of television we quickly looked at ways to increase our efforts there.

Having a fund to pay Veterinarians from when checks from the city were slow-We invoiced the city twice a month for all certificates received from clinics at time of invoice, this did not mean that the city paid us twice a month. We would usually receive checks from the city for three invoices at a time. Sometimes it could actually be 10 to 12 weeks after the surgery was performed before clinics were paid, although this was partially dependent upon how long the clinic held certificates before submitting for payment. If clinics called and were in need of a check I would always try and get them a check for at least their oldest invoice even if we had not received payment from the city.

Not forcing Veterinarians to absorb the cost of surgeries that were rejected for improper documentation-When the work of collecting the documentation was transferred to the clinics, they then became responsible for ensuring proper documentation was submitted. If clinics submitted certificates that were not acceptable they were returned for completion or further documentation. For the most part, after a learning curve, we were able to obtain complete and proper documentation for all surgeries performed. When there were cases of surgeries having been completed for people that just did not qualify then those surgeries could be submitted outside of the SpayJax program for reimbursement. This money comes from our other sources of income but is a vital part of ensuring the success of the program by allowing the Veterinarians to agree to the handle the documentation without having to fear losing money due to honest mistakes.

Treating everybody Like a Customer-At the start of the program we realized that we were going to have treat each of the other partners and participants in the program as our customers if we were going to ensure success. The clinics were technically our customers as we were writing them checks each month, some of them really large, however the clinics and the Veterinarians were the ones we had to work the most closely with and our program depended upon. The clients, those people bringing pets to get altered were obviously everybody’s customer and probably the most unheard from as far as expressing concerns. The city was probably our real customer as they were the ones writing us checks, and so we obviously had to satisfy all of their needs also.


What Didn’t Work

Having clients mail documentation to central office to get a voucher-Although this is the model most voucher programs follow, we found it too be too cumbersome for the speed at which we needed to move. It was often thought the high rate of illiteracy in our community also complicated this step, in addition it seemed low-income person’s access to stamps, envelopes and copy machines also hindered this process.

Asking clinics to report all sterilization surgeries performed-We have not had the success we desire in getting reports on number of surgeries performed in our participating clinics. In fact we do not even get reported to us surgeries performed for our other programs that do not require payment from our group. We feel it is important to document this information to ensure we are truly increasing the number surgeries performed in the community, not just through our programs but also to the average clinic clients. We are looking at ways to improve our reporting accuracy.

Communicating with Veterinarians, participating or not-Perhaps our biggest challenge has been communicating with Veterinarians, both those participating in our programs and those not enrolled. The best way to ensure contact with the right person is usually a personal visit where information is left, and then followed up with a phone call to ensure the right person received the information and to see if an appointment for another personal visit is necessary.

Requiring Specific Insurance Limits of Clinics-At the start of the program the city had high insurance requirements of both our group and the participating clinics. These were obviously insurance guidelines that were part or each county contract and had been included in this contract with little thought to the impact. These requirements were a severe obstacle to recruiting additional participating clinics and were eventually dropped by the city. It should be noted that many clinics already had the required coverage and if their coverage were lower than required the cost was minimal to increase to required coverage, however the act of getting the required “Certificates of Insurance” were a major obstacle, at least in the view of participating clinics.

Not establishing a limit for number of pets that can be altered by each household-Although the first year of the program has been very successful and we are starting to see a slight decrease in shelter intake, the lack of a limit on number of pets each individual can have altered under the program has become a concern. At the start of a program a limit, or a policy of not having a limit, should have been implemented.


What’s Next?

Securing a dedicated source of funding-Funding for the SpayJax program was appropriated from the city’s general budget. We hope to follow the lead of New Hampshire and find a way to put in place ordinances to fund the SpayJax program on an ongoing basis from revenues of pet tag sales, or any other innovative funding source.

Long Term Contract with County-One of our objectives is to enter into a long-term contract with the County (5-7 years) for the administration of the SpayJax program. Ensured continuity of the program would be a huge assistance in recruiting Veterinarians. Many hours of time and lots of resources are required to complete the ground work each time the contract is up for renewal and this is something we would like to avoid.

Transport Vehicles-There appears to be a need for a transport unit to help pet owners transport pets to Veterinarians. We have found that transportation concerns are often the reason behind no-show appointments. Although the details of how to fund and operate this unit are undecided it is believed it would be a valuable asset for both our sterilization and adoption programs.

Neighborhood Targeting-There are many neighborhoods that have a disproportionate number of complaints to animal care and control, these usually are low income neighborhoods. We hope in the future to combine door to door canvassing of these neighborhoods with utilization of our planned for transport vehicles to dramatically increase the number of pets altered, hoping to reduce the number of complaints to animal care and control and the number of impounds.

Strengthening supplementary programs-It was apparent right from the start of SpayJax that there were additional citizens needing help that did fall into the guidelines for SpayJax. SpayJax is designed to cover those persons making less than 50% of median income for our area in addition we have what we call a “Rolling Spayathon” series for those earning between 50 and 80% of median income, and those earning more but still needing help are eligible for our “Low Cost Referral Program”.

Although the SpayJax program does a good job of reaching those in greatest need, there are many other groups needing assistance and we will have to help these people also in order to reach our goals. In addition to strengthening our existing complimentary programs we also hope to institute a feral cat sterilization program and assistance for rescue groups and shelters needing help altering adoptable pets.

Increasing Sterilizations Overall-In addition to increasing surgeries for low income citizens we also want to increase the number of surgeries being performed in the community overall hoping to avoid that dreaded “just one litter” so many pets owners still desire. We hope to do this by placing marketing materials in local Veterinary offices promoting the early alteration of pets and advising pet owners to talk to their Veterinarian now about getting the surgery completed.


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