In response to COVID-19 being an emerging public health issue, Therapeutic Paws of Canada (TPOC) has decided to cancel all visits from their Therapy Pets.
Effective Tuesday (Mar 10), a notice went out to all volunteers at TPOC that they have made the difficult decision to immediately suspend and cancel all pet therapy visits across Canada due to the potential threat of the COVID-19 virus.
TPOC Co-Team Leader for Cobourg-Port Hope, Joanne Rockey-Smith, says the Chair sent out an email this week that cancels all visits until at least April 1st.
Rockey-Smith says it comes down to working with and visiting some of the most vulnerable population, TPOC decided to take a proactive stance to ensure that they do not play a part in the spread of this virus.
TPOC adds that, the health and safety of their volunteers and clients is at the forefront of this decision, and all volunteers were contacted this week to suspend their visits – Rockey-Smith tells us more.
[W:MarketsCobourgCurrent AudioTPOC CANCELS VISITS COVID 3.mp3]
Therefore all visits are cancelled until further notice, with the decision being revisited and updated on April 1st.
We contacted the Northumberland Branch of St. John’s Ambulance, who says at this moment their Therapy Dogs are still visiting throughout Northumberland County.
We also were in touch with Pine Ridge Veterinary Clinic in Cobourg, who says as of right now there is no evidence that shows that animals can get the virus.
To stay up to date with when TPOC will resume visiting, you can visit their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tpocNational/ or their website: https://tpoc.ca/.
