OKEECHOBEE — The Justin Bartlett Animal Hospital/Rescue is coming to Okeechobee on Jan. 9 to offer a free vaccine clinic for dogs and cats. According to Janet Diamond, outreach coordinator for the hospital, the hospital/rescue is a nonprofit, mostly foster-based facility. They regularly try to go out into the field into areas where families do not have access to affordable care for their pets.

“It could be that vets are not close to where some of these people live, or it could be the private vets are too expensive or there may not be a low-cost rescue there to help them,” she said. The Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue has been to Clewiston and Pahokee and other areas where families and their pets need help.

“We go out there with a vet and some techs, management staff and volunteers,” she explained. “We do free vaccine clinics for dogs and cats until the vaccines run out.”

They partner with a local group in the area who can help with marketing, often doing something through the schools, houses of worship or local businesses. They do vaccines for dogs and cats and sometimes do free spaying and neutering as well.

The clinic in Okeechobee is scheduled for Jan. 9 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. or until the vaccines run out. They are partnering with Okeechobee Animal Control and will be setting up at Animal Control, which is located at 1480 N.W. 25th Drive near the airport. For additional information, call 561-795-9999.

The clinics are usually set up to do between 200 and 250 vaccines, she said. They are able to do this clinic because of the generosity of a private donor who wishes to remain anonymous. That’s how all the clinics are done, through donations, she explained.

This is only the first clinic of 2021, she said. They plan to do many more throughout the year.