If you’ve ever known what it means to care for a pet, not just as a companion, but as a member of your family, then you know how crucial it is to have access to quality medical care for them when they get sick or injured.

And with the advancements made in veterinary care over the past couple decades, it is truly incredible what can be done to prolong the lives of our furry friends.

But accessing that incredible technology — which includes much of the same kinds of sophisticated machinery used in life-saving care for humans, such as MRI and CT machines — comes at a significant cost. And so for thousands of low-income Rhode Islanders, an otherwise curable ailment or treatable diagnosis can become a death sentence, or result in the necessary forfeiture, of their irreplaceable friends.

It’s one of the reasons that Dr. Hank Wietsma, a veterinarian with 40 years of experience, is passionate about volunteering his time and efforts to nonprofit animal care.

Wietsma — who operated a vet clinic in Wickford for 25 years and opened the Coventry Animal Hospital with a colleague, Dr. Sam Lester, in 2014 — formed the RI Companion Animal Foundation with a few fellow veterinarians in 2004 with the mission to help low-income individuals access high-quality care for their pets.

Out of that effort, and in partnership with John Gillespie and the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RISPCA), the Pets in Need (PIN) Clinic in Riverside ultimately opened its doors in 2016.
Their goal was simple: to provide quality animal care for those in Rhode Island who didn’t have the financial means to pay for it.

The clinic, located at 50 Amaral St. in Riverside, eventually ran into financial and staffing difficulties during the Covid-stricken year of 2020. The Potter League, a Middletown-based animal services nonprofit with a history going back to 1929, stepped up to help get the clinic through its turbulent times. But ultimately, the cost of running the facility became too much for them, and they were forced to close the clinic in 2024.

“When I heard about it and when the veterinarian community heard about it, we asked if there was any way we could collaborate and take it over.” Wietsma said. “It’s such an important mission and there’s so many pets in Rhode Island that will not be able to get quality veterinarian care without this place.”

Wietsma helped form a new collaborative of fellow veterinarians, vet techs, private donors, and others within the animal care community. With some additional funds kicked in from The Potter League, the new collaborative — appropriately dubbed the Rhode Island Community Pet Project — was able to bring back the clinic from the dead, and are now planning a reopening on Monday, May 19.

Wietsma said that at least for the time being, the clinic will be staffed by four veterinarians each taking one or two shifts on a volunteer basis, along with two full-time vet techs and five to six other vet techs working on a part-time basis.

“It’s a unique way to start this, kind of like a patchwork quilt,” he said. “We wanted to get the doors open as soon as possible because we thought the longer the doors were closed, the harder it would be to open and the more animals who wouldn’t be able to get care. We have a lot of experienced veterinary professionals involved, and most are volunteers, which is great.”

Wietsma said that the group will begin serious fundraising efforts and grant writing in the months and years to come to ensure they can keep the clinic open as long as possible.

“We know what we’re doing and we know what we’re getting into and we’ll have to be really aggressive with fundraising,” he said. “If anybody wants to help us out that would be greatly appreciated.”

Who can get services, and what is offered?
Dr. Wietsma said that the services offered at the clinic will be extensive, due to the capabilities of the staff who have agreed to come on board.

“We’re offering quality, full-service care, not just a vaccine clinic,” he said. “We offer wellness visits, sick visits, surgeries; not only spay and neuter but soft tissue surgeries, intestinal blockages and splenectomies…We do dentistry, which is a huge thing in veterinary medicine.”

Any Rhode Island resident who has qualified for state or federal assistance programming — such as Medicaid, food stamps, etc. — will be eligible to bring their pet to the clinic, and all they have to do is bring their award letter to show proof of receiving those benefits.

Wietsma said that he understands how emotionally devastating it can be when a pet gets sick or injured, and how that trauma can be exponentially worse when someone doesn’t have the means to get them the care they need. He said someone should never have to choose between putting an animal to sleep that could potentially live, or having to surrender them to a family who can pay for the procedure they need.

“These folks love their pets just as much as we do. In many many cases they are all they have,” he said. “The most rewarding thing is keeping those pets in the homes where they’re loved.”

The clinic will be open Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is located at 50 Amaral St. in Riverside, and you can reach out to make an appointment at 401-270-3832.