Requestor of CVR Services

AUTHORIZED REQUESTORS OF CVR SERVICES

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association welcomes requests for CVR assistance from any of the following authorized parties (“Authorized Requestors”):

  • The Government of Canada (GoC) or any agency of the GoC (i.e., Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Public Safety Canada, Animal Health Canada etc.).
  • Canada’s Provincial and Territorial governments or their agencies (i.e., Emergency Management Office).
  • International governments directly or via a Canadian governmental agency (i.e., for Foreign Animal Disease response via the Canadian Food Inspection Agency).

THIS IS HOW THE CVR CAN HELP

The CVR itself is not a First Responder.  The CVR provides supplemental veterinary resources (called “surge capacity”) to First Responders to address animal health and welfare issues arising from large-scale emergencies and disasters such as:

  • Biological emergencies - foreign animal diseases, vector infestations, etc.
  • Weather related events - hurricanes, tornadoes, severe storms, wildfires, floods, drought, etc.
  • Geophysical events - earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, etc.
  • Man-made events/accidents - physical, chemical, radiological, etc.

HOW DOES THE CVR PROVIDE THIS SURGE CAPACITY?

The CVR is a program of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA).  The CVR program maintains a database of 250 to 300 veterinarians across Canada who have volunteered to be called to assist in large-scale disasters and emergencies involving animals.  The CVR Database contains a tremendous amount of detail about each veterinarian including not only contact information but also species experience, specialties, board certifications, emergency response experience and much more.  The Database allows CVR administration to quickly identify and contact those veterinarians who have the skills needed to respond in any event.

CVR program management also provides the service of communicating to CVR members in order to call them up for service when an Authorized Request is made.

REQUESTING THE SERVICES OF THE CVR:

Initial contact: To engage the CVR, the Authorized Requestor will often contact the CVMA CEO by phone or email here. This allows for a discussion of the Requestor’s needs before the engagement process begins.  Alternatively, the Requestor may also contact CVR Administration directly at reserve@cvma-acmv.org.  In either case, a discussion between the CVMA CEO and the Authorized Requestor would result.

Next Steps: Should the Requestor wish to proceed with a possible call up of the CVR, CVR Administration will send two forms to the Requestor:

  1. CVR Service Contract - The Service Contract (sample here) is an agreement between the CVMA and the Requestor that outlines the service(s) to be provided and the costs associated with those services. It is to be signed before other actions are taken by CVR management. The CVR program operates on a cost recovery basis (not-for-profit).
  2. Call Up Request Form (sample here) - Having reviewed and signed the Service Contract, the Requestor completes the CVR Call Up Request Form and returns it to reserve@cvma-acmv.org. The Form contains detailed contact information for both parties, allows the Requestor to provide details about the event, and allows the Requestor to select their criteria from a list that mirrors the data kept in the CVR Database.  The Call Up Request Form enables the CVR to conduct a search of the CVR database using the Requestor’s criteria.  Results of the search are shared with the Requestor (i.e. number of CVR members meeting requirements, geographic locations, specialties etc.).  The Requestor then decides what next steps they wish to take.

CVR Call Up - Should the Requestor decide to proceed to a CVR Call Up, CVR management will prepare a CVR Call Up Notice (sample here).  The Requestor will approve the Notice before it is sent to the CVR members on the approved list.

CVR Deployment - CVR Member responses to the Call Up Notice are received by CVR administration, summarized, and shared with the Requestor.  The Requestor may then determine if they wish to proceed to a deployment of the CVR.  Should deployment of the CVR be required, all next steps would be discussed with the Requestor as each situation will be different.