Maddie's Shelter Medicine Training Project at Colorado State University

Colorado State University received a grant to develop, implement and evaluate a training program for animal shelter workers and volunteers to increase their knowledge of zoonotic diseases and infection control measures in animal shelters.

Staff conducted two training sessions in each of the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah for a total of twelve training sessions.

Specific objectives:

• Review clinical signs and transmission routes of zoonotic diseases of concern to animal shelters along with their common clinical signs and routes of transmission.
• Review potential impact of listed zoonotic diseases on immune compromised individuals.
• Review infection control critical for disease prevention and control in animal shelters.
  Work through zoonotic disease scenarios that might occur in animal shelters.

Staff also evaluated and analyzed the effectiveness of the training sessions, taking into account such things as shelter size and location.

The project was directed by Katie Steneroden, DVM, MPH.