‘Paw-some’ partnership: How a helping paw creates meaningful experiences

Many of our Explore participants want to pursue careers in the animal care industry. One example is the ‘wonder-fur-l' Sarah Kolope, who decided to pursue a career in veterinary nursing after ‘em-barking’ on her journey with HPHH.  

As part of our Explore program, participants complete a work placement based on their career aspirations – whether they want to work in the animal care industry or a completely different industry. For Sarah, the ‘paw-fect’ fit was in a veterinary clinic. With this in mind, our team secured a placement for her at Bulimba Vet Surgery. 

Bulimba Vet Surgery is on a mission to ensure their two, three and four-legged patients and their humans feel they are receiving the best veterinary care and value. They pride themselves on providing the highest quality of personalised veterinary care, offering services for all your pet's needs – from emergency surgeries and care to general consultations.   

When discussing why they welcomed our Explore participants for their work experience placements, Bulimba Vet said it was an excellent opportunity for everyone involved. 

“I think it’s great to give everyone an opportunity to experience what it’s like in the workplace, particularly in an area that they have an interest in,” Angie Williams, Veterinary Nurse at Bulimba Vet said. 

“We really enjoyed seeing the students become more confident and engaging more as the weeks go on and learning new skill sets,” Angie said. 

Angie said our participants were “really helpful” to the staff, helping around the cattery, with feeding and providing water for boarding pets, making them feel loved and giving them some extra attention and more.  

“We provided the participants with a list of jobs that we needed doing that were achievable but were also helpful to us. Some of these tasks included making up our dog treats, which was very helpful for us as we always had a steady supply for sale at reception,” Angie said. 

“They also helped with making up syringes with flushes for our vet nurses to use – this was such a time saver for us when we were busy.” 

“We had participants say that they love working here, which is lovely!” 

Angie would recommend any business that can take on Explore participants does so. You can provide a meaningful experience for our participants and have extra helping hands during your day.  

Want to work with HPHH as a placement partner for our Explore Program? Get in touch with us at hello@hphhfoundation.org or call us at 1300 077 984.