Safe Animal Friendly Environments (SAFE) – a tool for supporting people and their pets to stay together as long as possible

This webinar will be presented by Dr Janette Young, Lecturer in Health Sciences (Health Promotion & Health Services), University of South Australia.

About the webinar

Needing to part with a loved non-human companion or choosing not to continue having pets because of the fear of such parting has been part of the landscape of ageing. Yet we know that older people who move to high level care settings have higher levels of depression than community dwelling peers with similar levels of incapacity and, that pets make a difference to the quality of life for many older persons. So how can this scenario be addressed, not only in the interests of the wellbeing of older humans, but also those of the animals that they love? A key issue identified whenever the topic of pets in aged care settings is raised is that of the risks that this could engender. Hence the idea of developing a risk management tool to identify and map out responses to the array of risks that can be identified in relation to pet keeping by older people in communal care settings.

Through 2020 and 2021, with funding support from the Society for Companion Animal Studies (UK), a team of specialist veterinarians, human health care and consumer experts worked together to develop SAFE a companion-animal risk management tool. Dogs, cats, small mammals, birds, and fish are covered, and the tool maps out the risks that each species may pose to humans, humans may pose to the animals, and animals to other animals. Each risk has been assessed as to the likelihood of occurrence, level of impact, moderating/remediating steps and consequent impact following remediation. This presentation will step through the SAFE tool. Feedback on the tool is extremely welcome. Click for a pre-session look at SAFE.

Recording