The bond Dr. Joanne Olinyk shares with her clients and patients is a special one. “These may look like medical records, but I view them more as scrapbooks of memories,” she says, smiling, as she sets down a stack of beige-coloured file folders on the table in front of her.
When Olinyk purchased her practice back in 1996, she bought a camera too. Whenever a new pet is welcomed into the Colborne Street Pet Hospital family, her team takes a photo of the animal. Usually it’s when they’re a puppy or kitten, but sometimes it will be an older pet that has come into Olinyk’s care. The photo is printed and placed into the pet’s medical file. When the pet dies, often many years later, Olinyk sends the owners the picture she’s kept in her files with a personalized handwritten sympathy card and a copy of the Rainbow Bridge poem, a story that has gained popularity around the world and describes a paradise where many people believe pets go after they die. For some owners who may not have had many pictures of their pet, Olinyk’s tradition is particularly meaningful and special. She often hears back from her clients how comforting it is to receive a nice memory from the past after saying goodbye to their beloved companion.
Olinyk then follows up with a donation to OVC Pet Trust. She knows whenever she makes a donation through the Pet Memorial Program, she is helping to make a difference by supporting research at the Ontario Veterinary College that will advance pet health through the discovery of new preventions, diagnoses and treatments of diseases.
“I build relationships with the pets in my care and their families over the course of their life,” says Olinyk. “For me, donating to OVC Pet Trust is the best way to give back and honour the life of a pet I’ve cared for. Supporting companion animal health and well-being helps humans and our pets. It helps all of us.”
Read more in Best Friends Magazine.