Krystina, could you explain what your position is?
It's technically two parts. My first part is Associate Director of Medical Operations - I oversee basically the operations of how everything runs with medical between the intake department, the surgery department, our sick ward, which we call our isolation department, and just making sure medical flow, is running the way it should be running. I've been here for 19 years, so I kind of have bit of knowledge in every little pot, so to speak.
And our FIDO Program. It’s a fleet of spay and neuter vans across America. We have seven spay and neuter vans, one of them does reside here at Providence Animal Center, so we're so proud of that. We have two in Texas, one in Tennessee, one in Alabama, and one in Los Angeles. We're proud of that work that is done, spay and neuter happening across the country.
It was actually gifted to us last year because of how successful our FIDO Van Program runs here. The program runs with a free spay and neuter, free vaccine, free microchip, and a fleet preventative, all free. We do over 200 surgeries a month. That is a requirement to be a part of our Van Program.
All of our appointments are able to be booked online.
We have low cost spay and neuter options. We have a program called the Alley Cat Special, which is a package that includes basically all vaccines, a flea preventative, a nail trim for somebody to encourage someone to take a cat that is living outdoors and to provide that medical care for them at a low cost. So that way they're not out in the streets, getting sick, reproducing, contributing to the pet overpopulation program and keeping them healthy. We're making sure they're getting their rabies vaccine as well.
We have grants and donors who are the backbone of our foundation here. So we've relied very heavily on our donors.
And why do you yourself do this work?
It’s my life's work. I'm very passionate about it - to able to come here every single day and make the life different for an animal, whether it is owned for a client or a resident animal here at our shelter. Seeing animals come in, absolutely scared, terrified from not great situations. And then just to see them walk out the door with their tail wagging, just looking up at their new owner with that love in their eyes.
Just somebody calling us saying their pet needs an emergency surgery and they're faced with saying goodbye and we’re able to give them that surgery, not even asking them what kind of financial situation they're in, just making sure that their pet goes home with them tonight.
If you remember the pandemic, how many people took animals in, provided them with that comfort. There was a lonely time. The mental health aspect of owning a pet is really, really important.
How did you personally get involved?
I saw an ad in the newspaper to be an adoption counselor. So I thought, hey, that sounds kind of fun. Let's go see some puppies and kittens!
And then once I got here and saw the need, the aspect, I got my hands dirty in the back very quickly, spent a lot of time in surgery. It's where I feel like I can be the most impactful providing medical care. We have a really amazing team of veterinarians here. So everything that I could stand behind and confidently say, I support everything that happens here. It is nothing but the best of work.
What does Providence want to do in the future?
We're always looking to do more, always looking to be better, increasing numbers, increasing services, just really trying to be that resource for our community. We're looking to always do more adoptions in any way we can.
An upcoming event we have is “Clear the Shelter” on September 6th. It's one of our biggest adoption events of the year We have very low-cost adoptions. We're looking to do something very similar to that this year and anything we could do to get out in our community.
How can someone help who doesn't have room for a cat or a dog or an animal?
The easy thing to say is to be a donor and to donate, whether it's financially or for supplies.
But what I really like to push is volunteering. Coming here, even just doing the laundry is a big help. We have a lot of retired nurses or just people with just extra time on their hands to just come and take a dog out for a walk.
Come in the cat room and just play with a little wand with the kitten. Just a little time of your day that you can get out and be here. Volunteering goes a really long way.
And if you can have a little bit of room in your home for a foster animal - just temporarily gets an animal out of the shelter. It gets them to experience what it's like to be in a home. That information really helps us when they come back to the shelter. We can learn what kind of behaviors they have in the home. Sometimes a dog will go home on a sleepover and the person will come back and they'll say, the dog is fully trained, fully housebroken, knows all of its commands. We're like, wow, he's so much more adoptable than we ever knew. And we can let someone know that. And that makes them so much more marketable.
We have a rover program where, if you just want to take a dog out for a doggie date, that's more like an afternoon. We have people that come in, they'll just take a dog out to Ridley Creek State Park, stop by Starbucks for a pup cup, and then take them back here and, you know, just be able to get a dog tired out and again, learn like, oh, he was fantastic on the leash. So things like that really help us get the dogs placed in the right home.
Are there some kind of requirements that a volunteer has to have?
There's a very large variety of different roles that you can do - from doing the laundry to filling Kongs, or we have nurses that help in surgery and clean the instruments and make the packs. So there's different levels of expertise or skill sets. There’s something for everybody.
Some people just like to be in the back, making treats and getting the food prepped for the dogs. there's just so many different avenues, so many different roles, even just relaxing in the cat room and, you know, helping with the cats or taking a dog out for a walk that just needs a break out of its kennel. A little goes a long way.
You'll have a smile on your face. All the dogs and cats really want to see new people. It's good for them to see people coming through and smiling at them.
And, you know, I just want to get that message out there. And you don't have to you don't have to adopt you can just come by. Take a dog for a walk. That's it.
You know, no pressure. You don't have to get too involved even if you just the kids are out of school today and you don't know what to do. Just come on out and see a puppy see a kitten.
It'll just brighten your day. And it really does brighten their day too.
And you have a full-service vet?
Yes, we have a wellness clinic here. Everything is low-cost because we are a nonprofit. Our community really relies on us for our low-cost services. We have our surgery center here as well where we're doing high volume spay and neuter surgeries as well as dentals, mass removals. We do referrals for our emergency surgeries, foreign body surgeries, pyometras, and bladder stones.
Those surgeries are usually very expensive and we're able to do it here at a very low cost because we're nonprofit. All of the money that we make in the veterinary side in our wellness clinic goes to pay for the animals in the shelter. It’s a really great rewarding system to work for. Our animals is where the money is funneled back into. And that's really rewarding for us at the end of the day.
What’s the Center’s info?
It's 610-566-4575.
And our address is 555 Sandy Bank Road in Media. Our website and our Facebook have the best information for people that are looking for our current animals that we might have or any other adoption requirements or anything that they might want to look at ahead of time before they come out and visit.
Do you have story that you can tell us?
Of course. Fraizer, one a very sick puppy that made it home in time for Christmas eve and Gage, a wonderful dog who was at our Center for over a year and just found his forever home.
Fraizer was just a tiny black, 8-week-old puppy when Parvo virus turned his world upside down. He arrived at Providence Animal Center barely hanging on in December 2024. But with the medical team by his side, quickly springing into action, Fraizer began to heal. Slowly, his tail wag returned. He licked his first bite of food. And by Christmas, he had just one wish—a forever family. That wish came true when a visitor from Florida, still grieving the loss of her former Parvo-survivor pup, saw Fraizer and felt an instant connection. Today, he’s living his best life under the palm trees and sunshine!
Another is Gage. After 378 days of waiting patiently, Gage’s moment finally arrived. Overlooked time and time again, this sweet, gentle soul never lost hope. He watched as all of his shelter mates found their forever homes. Then one day, everything changed—a longtime volunteer walked through the door, saw Gage, and instantly knew that he was the one. Now, this lovable couch potato is living the life he always dreamed of—surrounded by love, treats, and plenty of snuggles. His story is a reminder that happy endings are worth waiting for!
providenceac.org
Krystina Rivera is the Associate Director of Medical Operations and FIDO Program at Providence Animal Center.