The Street Outreach Services (SOS) is a mobile health care team comprised of outreach workers, volunteer physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses who are transported in the mobile medical van to sites throughout San Francisco, creating “clinics without walls” on the streets, at soup kitchens, in parks, under freeway overpasses – anywhere homeless people are found.

At these “clinics without walls” they provide homeless people with critically needed preventive and urgent medical care, health education, and referrals and transportation assistance to clinics. The SOS team has seen firsthand that homeless people with animal companions often fare better. And some, who wouldn’t approach the van for their own care, will do so for their animals. When that happens, SOS takes the opportunity to engage these individuals and encourage them to get the care they so greatly need for themselves.

VET SOS is the project that provides critically needed quality medical care directly to the companion animals of homeless individuals in San Francisco. The VET SOS team provides free basic veterinary care and vaccinations; arranges spay/neuter surgeries at no cost; and distributes pet food and supplies, such as collars and leashes. In 2005, VET SOS provided services for 102 companion animals. It is the only project of its kind in San Francisco.

Funds will be used to support mobile medical care, health education, responsible pet ownership education as well as referrals and transportation for free spay/neuter surgery.