CARE Project Report is In

As part of the VIVUM 19 funding, the dog rescue and rehabilitation centre, Charlie’s Animal Rescue Centre (CARE), got granted a project worth 3 lakh INR in December 2019, to purchase surgical equipment for their centre, make operations more efficient and increase their capacity. The 10 month project has passed and the final report is here.

CARE runs a trauma care unit for injured and sick animals, with a helpline from 9am to 5.30pm. CARE has an Inpatient Facility for over 100 dogs, a full-fledged treatment unit to cater to all emergencies. On an average CARE receive 50 severe accident cases of dogs who have been run over by speeding vehicles on the road. All these cases require surgical intervention to fix the broken bones. Post-operative care usually takes 5 to 6 weeks with intensive treatment, wound dressings and rehabilitation.

What CARE approached TISB for was to improve the quality of surgeries by using better instruments and surgical implants, so that recovery is speeded up and more animals could be helped. CARE aimed to increase the number of cases that are given timely surgical aid and thereby more animal lives saved. The aim was to see a visible impact in this area by stepping up the number of such surgeries every month; from 50 cases each month having surgical intervention, to 80 in the first three months of the project, and a 100 animals saved every month by the end of the project.

To achieve the results, CARE increased their number of cases picked up, and since the funding gave access to ten more surgical sets, they were be able to do more surgeries on a daily basis. By using surgical implants in all such orthopedic cases, the fractures heal faster. What would take 5 to 6 weeks earlier would now take 2 to 3 weeks, thereby decreasing the recovery period by almost half. This in turn would lead to more cases rescued. By using implants in orthopedic surgeries, CARE would also be saving bandaging material, antibiotics and other medication. 

Having procured the medical equipment and made the centre increase its capacity, and become more efficient and effective. CARE ended up taking in more than 100 dogs per month, since August, and treated 146 dogs in December 2020 – almost three times as many as when the project started.

For more information about the organisation and their operations, visit CARE's website.