Where the Leash Leads
On a weekend in April, a team of medical and veterinary students spreads across Twiggs County, Georgia, one of the poorest counties in the state, to staff a clinic unlike most. Under the banner of the People & Pets Project, they offered free vaccines and low-cost spay/neuter surgeries for pets alongside blood pressure and blood sugar screenings for their owners, all under one roof. Students came from Mercer University and the University of Georgia, bringing together medical and veterinary training in a collaboration that reflects the clinic's core premise: that human and animal health are not separate problems.
The logic is deceptively simple. People who might not seek care for themselves will often show up for their animals. Preliminary data from the Georgia clinics bear this out: the majority of attendees come primarily for veterinary services, not their own health. But while they are there, they receive preventative screenings and a warm connection to the local public health department. The door opens from the animal side, and human health walks through it.
That insight drives the One Health framework at the heart of People & Pets, which holds that human, animal, and environmental health are inseparable. Lauren Ward, PhD, MPHTM, a CGHE Impact Scholar and environmental health researcher, joined the organization's board as its environmental health voice after meeting the founder in Guatemala. In Guatemala, the clinics draw roughly 200 patients and see high demand for both human and animal services, with many attendees seeking care for both themselves and their pets. Services go beyond basic screenings to include consultations for specific health concerns, functioning closer to an urgent care model. On the veterinary side, the clinics offer spay/neuter procedures, rabies vaccination, and treatment for conditions like screwworm.
The environmental health dimensions of the work differ by context, shaped by what communities themselves have identified as urgent. In Guatemala, listening sessions revealed that residents are most concerned about drinking water quality, air pollution from burning trash and industrial sources, and shifting patterns of flooding and drought tied to climate change. Lauren designed this summer's exposure assessment survey around exactly those concerns. In Georgia, where environmental health integration is newer, the focus has started closer to home: safe places to walk and play with pets, and access to green space in neighborhoods.
This summer, Lauren returns to Guatemala to conduct the environmental exposure research. A CGHE colleague will join her to study women's mental health in the same communities. The work on both continents is distinct in its specifics and connected in its framework, a model of local-global integration that moves in both directions, with lessons from Guatemala informing the Georgia clinics and vice versa.