The Hangout with David Sciarretta
We talk with interesting people. Come on in and hang out!
The Hangout with David Sciarretta
#90 Kwane Stewart, Transformative Care for the Unhoused and Their Pets
What if one moment could change your entire career path? Dr. Kwane Stewart, founder of Project Street Vet, shares how a chance encounter outside a 7-Eleven transformed his life and his career as a veterinarian. Dr. Stewart found new purpose in providing medical care to the pets of unhoused individuals. Listen to learn more about Dr. Stewart's inspirational journey!
Donate here!
If you enjoyed this episode please give us a five-star rating and consider donating. Your generosity helps our shoe-string budget and allows us to continue producing high-quality content. Click here to donate.
And I still wake up some mornings and think the coolest thing about my life is if my dog got sick, if there was an emergency, if he, if he got hit by a car right outside my front door, I have the experience and knowledge to potentially save him. That that's still that. That feeling, that thought I carry around even after 27 years of practice, is still care around even after 27 years of practice. It still warms me. So, yes, if you can manage the emotional part, it is to me the best profession on the planet.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Hangout Podcast. I'm your host, david Sharetta. Come on in and hang out. Come on in and hang out. In this episode, I was privileged and honored to sit down for a humbling conversation with Dr Quan Stewart. Dr Stewart is the founder of Project Street Vet. You can find them online projectstreetvetorg. You can also find his book on Amazon and wherever you buy your books. It's called what it Takes to Save a Life. Dr Stewart shares his inspirational journey and the transition in his life from working at a shelter that had a high rate of euthanizing pets to beginning to go through this journey of supporting homeless populations and, in particular, taking care of their pets. I was humbled by our conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and I strongly encourage folks to donate to this cause, to help further this work around the country and also to purchase Dr Stewart's book. Welcome, dr Stewart. It's a real pleasure to have you on for a little bit of a chat today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me so much.
Speaker 2:I thought we could get started with your origin story, where you come from, who you are as a person, what your background is like, and then we'll kind of bring it up to the present.
Speaker 1:Sure, my origin story is one of my favorite tales to share, because when I was a kid, I always wanted to be a superhero like Batman, and I was an avid drawer, illustrator, colorer and I was always drawing. You know Batman and Superman and you could run down the list of the Avengers. I was always coloring and drawing them. And what's interesting about my story? If I could fancy myself a little bit of wearing a cape which is always something I wanted to do it was either that or be a veterinarian. I've sort of found my place in the street work I do, but it found me. I would say I didn't go out necessarily seeking it, it almost happened by accident. I was a shelter veterinarian at the time. This is about 13 years ago and I was on the verge of quitting the profession, which you know. If a veterinarian says that to you, that's heavy, because the time, efforts, money, energy it takes to become a vet is immense. And 13 years into it I just wanted to walk away. And it was because I was a shelter vet and we had a very high euthanasia rate at this municipal shelter. I don't want to share the number, but some mornings before 10 am it was a lot of animals and it was starting to destroy my soul and question why I took this path. And so, on this particular day which is interesting because I'm not a big believer in destiny, but I'm starting to come around on this particular day I was sitting in front of 7-Eleven and I was rehearsing my resignation letter in my head. I was going to go in later and sit down and have a chat and then formally write my letter.
Speaker 1:I walked into 7-Eleven, which is part of my pattern either for gas or coffee and I was walking out and to my left I saw the Sun House gentleman and his dog. I saw his dog had some sort of skin issue. I could see this from afar, from about 12 feet, and I got a little closer to him and was able to make out more or less what was going on with the dog. And then I just introduced myself. I said I'm Kwan Stewart, I'm a veterinarian and it looks like your dog has a skin issue. And he said, yes, a pretty serious one.
Speaker 1:And he was exasperated and desperate. He just said I don't know what's going on with her. I don't have any resources or money to get her help. And I said well, it looks to me like it's just fleas Surprisingly as bad as shape this dog was in and chronic fleas will destroy a dog's skin if they have it long enough and this dog looked like a burn victim. On his hind end the hair was gone, the skin was red and bumpy, was infected. The dog was miserable and itchy. He was miserable, the man, and I just said to him well, if you're here tomorrow, I'll return with something that should help. And I just said to him well, if you're here tomorrow, I'll return with something that should help.
Speaker 1:That took me back to the shelter that day and the next day, funny enough, I returned as promised, gave the dog a $3 pill $3 out of my pocket or, as I say now, $3 out of the shelter's pocket. I now divulge that piece of it. It was only $3. It was only $3. You won't go to prison for that. No, I should be all right. I treated the dog it's five more minutes of my time and then I saw the same man and the same dog about a week and a half later. The dog was transformed. She was wagging her tail and she jumped up on me when I approached him again and the man sitting in the same spot just looked up at me with tears in his eyes, and the man sitting in the same spot just looked up at me with tears in his eyes and he just said to me thank you for not ignoring me. And I got a little emotional as well and I just kneeled down and I made him a quiet pledge and said I'm going to try and find more people like you.
Speaker 2:And that was 13 years ago and I haven't stopped since Wow, and, and at a certain point you you obviously resigned from the shelter work. Um, and now, as I understand it, you've expanded to multiple cities. How does that network begin to expand and how do you cause? This isn't a real sales job that you can make to vets. That's an easy sales job, right, Like yeah, out and do this highly lucrative work on the streets. So how does that work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was. It was a very, very slow process. In fact, I had no intentions to to expand the work in the beginning. It was just, it was a passion project. It was a way, maybe, for me to heal.
Speaker 1:I was, uh, you know, frustrated and, uh, maybe feeling a certain amount of guilt for my time at the shelter. And, you know, I, I think, as I tell people, in the eyes of God, I, I felt like I was losing, uh, because I felt as though some of the things I was, you know, I had to do by the nature of the work as a shelter veterinarian. We're not right, we're not in keeping with with um, you know, my oath and things I wanted to do as a vet. So there was, there was a lot of guilt and for me, I would just go out quietly and do the work. In fact, this is the surprising part about the story I didn't tell anybody about what I was doing for the better part of six years. I didn't tell anybody about what I was doing for the better part of six years. So this started around 2013, towards the end of 2012. And for six years, I didn't tell my family, I didn't tell my mother, my partner, my children. I went out you know free moments after work, on weekends and and find people and do this. So there was again. There was never really any intent to make this a big thing, it just it evolved to that after some time. Finally, after about six years, I shared it with my brother I have one brother, one sibling and shared it with him and he just said why haven't you told anybody about this? You know what you're doing is is it's significant. People should hear these stories. It could have an impact on them.
Speaker 1:He gave me a social media presence. I don't like social media. I'll tell people now all day long, despite the following I have in the comments and posts, but he takes care of all that. He basically built a persona around if you want to call me the street vet around this image that I now have as a street vet. And that presence on social media led to other veterinarians around the country saying I love this, can I do what you do in my neighborhood or my community? And then it just sort of organically, a vet in Atlanta said I'm going to start a team, a street vet team here, and then a vet in Orlando and a vet in New York City and, yeah, so over about the course of four to five years we're now in seven different cities. We have a wonderful title sponsor and Fetch Pet Insurance, who underwrites the expansion, and Fetch has been a great partner to all of us.
Speaker 1:In fact, I just did, I'm on something right now called the multi-city tour, so I'm visiting every city and spending time out in the field with these veterinarians. Some of these veterinarians I've never met in person. They've, uh, we've been communicating through email and phone and Instagram and on their own they've just developed their own, their own team, their own way of doing it in their own city. And now I get a chance to go out. I was just in Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Recently I went out in Atlanta with Dr Kristen Schmidt and she walked me through what felt like a jungle, because a lot of her work in Atlanta you know Atlanta is like a city of forests and trees and a lot of her work is really rural, like we were hiking through an area of forest to find an encampment of unhoused folks who have pets and treat them. And I work in Skid Row. Mine is just, it's a concrete jungle. So I'm always on city streets here in LA, but no, it was wonderful and it's I don't know. I never could have imagined or dreamed of this. Obviously, when I started it just wasn't on my radar. But now I, finally, am seeing how much good change this is bringing about and how impactful it is in a good way. And beyond the people that I'm reaching in the moment, the animals that I'm treating on a street corner, the message of kindness, of giving someone your time and energy, without agenda, that is the part I'm most proud of.
Speaker 2:You know, we're located just 25 blocks from downtown San Diego, 10 blocks from, really, where there's a high concentration of unhoused folks in downtown San Diego, like 16th 17th street. We're on 26th, so just up the hill and so I'm passing through. It's not on the level of Skid Row in LA, and I think you're familiar with San Diego as well and you've worked here. I mean, on every block there are folks with pets mostly dogs, but sometimes other pets and so I just was wondering if you could speak to the role that pets have in people's lives. I mean, we know the role that pets have in lives of people who have more stability and live in homes, et cetera, but when you remove that from someone's life, what's the role of the pet? As an anchor, as a connection to reality or comfort, or if you could speak to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would just start by saying for all of us that have a pet currently or in the past, and we've loved that pet. The census now says that 85% of people that are polled will tell you their pet is family, it's a member of the family. That wasn't always so. You go back a generation. That number was much lower, almost cut in half. And you know, in the 60s and 1940s you know pets, as I say, I have this funny story that they've sort of migrated right from the corner of the backyard to the porch in the 60s to inside the home in the 80s, but still mostly outside, and then in the early 2000s they were not only in the home but they're in their bedroom and now they're in our bed. So they have had this long migration as part of our lives and most people consider them family. So if you reflect on that for a second and someone, just you know, closes their eyes and thinks of what their pet means to them, how perhaps their pet has pulled them through a difficult time, through a divorce, you know we always talk about pets are always there. Our dog, our cat is always there. We've lost partners, been through divorce, relationships, lost jobs, but sometimes the most stable force in our lives is this dog you've come to love over the past 10 years. You take that and then you just put some jet fuel, you add something very powerful to it exponentially, and that is what you have on the streets. That is my observation that yes, we love our pets. Pets, we appreciate them, they bring us comfort and they have consoled us at times. But when you're on the streets and you have nothing else, in a lot of cases you have no family support, you have no friends, you have no home, you're struggling to eat. Some days this pet becomes a lifeline. It literally becomes a reason to get up and breathe the next day, to remain hopeful, and this plays out in this simple example.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes people will refuse temporary or permanent housing if it does not allow their dog to come with them. I don't know that I could say that right. I've never I'm so used to the life I've had, you know, since growing up. Just you know, simple, middle-class family. I've never I'm so used to the life I've had, you know, since growing up. Just you know, simple, middle-class family. I don't if I lived on the streets for a year and someone offered me a bed and a warm shower and a meal, but said you can have this, you just can't bring your dog with you. I don't know if I would be able to turn it down, but I hear that time and time again that if my dog doesn't come, I don't go. So that shows you, or should illustrate, the power of the bond between these two. And my job, my simple job, is just to try and keep them together. I'm just offering free medical care to try and keep these two together.
Speaker 2:I'd imagine that so much of your work, obviously your work is related to pets, but it's also related to the humans, right To the pet owners. How have you worked through that trust relationship? I'd imagine that in Skid Row and among folks who've spent sometimes decades on the streets, folks are on with their guard up. How do you navigate that? And you're probably well known now and so when folks see you coming but that wasn't always the case You're probably well known now and so when folks see you coming, but that wasn't always the case.
Speaker 1:No, that wasn't always the case and I had to develop my own style. I guess In this profession obviously I've had to deal with very difficult moments with families and people and had hard conversations. You, just over time, develop a way to speak with people and get very comfortable with that. So in that, in that regard, it's sort of prepared me to, yes, approach a total stranger on the streets and, like that gentleman outside of 7-Eleven, announced myself, and that's how I usually start. From a distance I just say this is who I am and if, if you're okay with it, I, I give free medical care advice to anyone in need of it and I'd be happy to examine your dog, if you allow me. That's my opener and you know, usually within a few seconds, most you know they may kind of nod their head back and forth and you can tell they're mulling it over quickly and they say, sure, I wear a scrub top with my name on it Kwan Stewart, dvm. So I look somewhat official out in the streets and I carry a backpack full of supplies. But the moment they kick open that door and say, yes, it's fine. I just I take a knee, I take out my stethoscope and I get to work and within a moment again, wherever I am, in an alleyway or under a traffic light, that becomes my clinic, my exam office, and I just go through the same routine I would with any paying client in clinic. I listened to the heart, tell them, heart sounds great, lungs are clear, and I'm just doing a full, thorough exam and I'm talking through it with them like they're any other client and then more and more, I think over those minutes, the trust grows. I'm giving advice where I can and then, yeah, it's. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:There've been times where I've spent 90 minutes with one person and their dog and what starts out as an exam, and then maybe some recommendations, turns into a long conversation, sometimes very personal. I'll share personal things about my life and usually hear personal things from them and it's almost like we're two friends at the end. You know, often we're hugging. When I say goodbye I give everybody my cell phone number, which I've been saying for years. I probably need to stop that practice because you know now hundreds and it's fine. You know, the reason I started doing that in the beginning is when I treat a pet just like I would in clinic in a hospital with a paying client. I'm their resource right. I'm their resource right If there's a reaction to the vaccines, if a recheck is necessary, if the treatment isn't going well, if they have a question about health. I want them to know this wasn't a one and done that. I'm still here for you and I'm your doctor. I'm Jinx's doctor now and you can call me, so that's more or less how it plays out.
Speaker 2:How have your views on the challenges of homelessness or the experience of being unhoused, how have those changed or been influenced by your work? I mean, the topic is a pretty charged one in just about every major metropolitan area in the US, certainly in Southern California particularly so, but I know New York City and other places. How has your understanding of that grown or changed or been informed by this work with?
Speaker 1:pets. You know, in the beginning, admittedly, I had my own prejudgments, prejudices, if you want to say I would see. Say, for instance, what I would consider an able-bodied 30-year-old man on a street corner shaking a cup, just, you know, essentially begging, and I've had the thoughts everybody's had. You know why? Why can't you get a job Right? You clearly look fit enough to go out and work, or so, yes, those thoughts ran through my head prior to doing this work and I. It's been a learning curve for me too, and what I have found in spending time with many of these people is they really aren't any different than me and I'm certainly no better than them.
Speaker 1:You know, life circumstances are easy to judge, cast judgment or shadow on somebody. That someone has grown up in foster care or didn't have parental support or never really had a chance at an education, their parents were on drugs and they picked up the habit from them, on and on and on. I realized then that I had a very, very fortunate upbringing, but also I think in moments because we've all had some bad luck bounces or moments where maybe we were on the ledge that had it not been for the support and I have a great network of support through my family and friends. If it wasn't for them in certain moments, maybe maybe I would be tumbling and maybe I would be. You know, it goes from so often what I hear is it.
Speaker 1:It starts as well. I just I couldn't pay rent or I couldn't do this and so I decided to sleep in my car, and the car leads to the street corner, and then the street corner often can lead to drug abuse or coping mechanisms, and then you're out there for a long, long time and I can't say that I haven't been close to that potentially happening in my life. I was able to sleep on my friend's couch in that moment, or parents were able to wire me money, but if you don't have that, what happens to you? Right? So when you take that in consideration and, of course, the mental illness aspect, I've just abandoned judgment altogether and it's not my job as a practitioner or caregiver to go in and judge somebody or their situation is. It's to give you know, healing practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting, right, because if you are a's to give you know healing practice, yeah, it's interesting, right, because if you were a physician treating humans, you know you treat what you can in that moment and do no harm, and so it's an interesting dynamic to think about, right You're you're dealing with the pet, but you're also dealing with the human just as much.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, and I will say this because I've got this question before just as much. Yes, yeah, and I will say this because I've got this question before Do you ever consider removing the pet from the person, or does that ever become necessary? Right, I'm sure that question was coming because it's a great question. It's a fair question and, yes, my veterinary oath, which I take very seriously, says that I am there, essentially says that I am there to protect the animal first. That is my obligation, that's my responsibility. So if an animal is in any sort of danger, it's being neglected or abused, my job is to remove that animal from that situation, in addition to treating and alleviate suffering. There's some other things in our oath, but that stands out to me, obviously in the work that I do, because, yes, if I come across a dog that I see has been chained up, is starving, is being neglected, then no, I will take that dog or I will do what I can or is necessary to remove that dog from that person. I've had to do that in clinic, I've had to do that on the streets. But here's the surprising thing I've had to do that more in a working clinic with paying clients than I have had to do in the streets. A lot of people may not believe that, but it's true. I've had.
Speaker 1:In my 13 years of doing this I've had to go the course of removing a pet from a person twice. On the streets that number is far higher. In clinic I was also, again, a county veterinarian back in the shelter days I would get calls all the time. This person isn't feeding their dog, they've been chained or tethered. I'd go on property. These are people in homes, right With jobs, I would assume. Dog is tethered. The size of the collar was never adjusted. The skin is growing over the collar. The collar has to be peeled off. I have to surgically repair the neck. So all that to say that, yes, despite them being short on resources, which we all know, there is no shortage of love, loyalty, companionship, respect for that pet and they will in some cases give up their only meal of the day so their dog can eat. And again, I just don't observe that typically in normal daily practice.
Speaker 2:It was interesting to me in one of the videos that I watched in researching this, you talked about the fact that 80 something percent of the situations that you face you can address using your bag just a little bag, and so to me that immediately my brain went to wow. That speaks to the fact that folks are doing their best to take care of their pets despite not having the resources.
Speaker 1:As you said abruptly, this is just anecdotal over the years of doing this, I think about 80% of the cases the dogs and cats I see on the streets I treat right out of the bag. That means it's basic care. That's the same kind of care I give in clinic. It's vaccines, it's rabies, it's treating for skin ailments. In Southern California, the biggest ailment that I encounter are skin issues, by far whether I'm in the streets or I'm working in a hospital.
Speaker 1:If I saw 20 cases in a hospital today hospital, if I saw 20 cases in a hospital today, 12 of them would be skin related. It would be fleas, ticks. Allergies are huge in southern california ear infections, all dermatologic. That's what I see. That's what I see in the streets too, and I can address that out of my bag. So, and and it's amazing what a little shot or uh prescription, antibiotics or flea treatment can do for a dog that's been suffering and that's most of what I do and for the remaining 20% yes, some of these dogs are older, they've never had dental care, they're starting to get arthritic, they have a tumor that needs to be taken off. I can get those into a hospital and do diagnostics, blood work, x-ray surgery, and we cover all the costs for that 20% of pets that go in.
Speaker 2:I did learn something that I think you were explaining to one of the folks whose dog you were treating that fleas have evolved to live right above the dog's tail in an inaccessible place where the dog can't scratch. The fleas are a few steps ahead of us.
Speaker 1:The fleas are definitely many steps ahead of us. The fleas are definitely many steps ahead of us and it's a really easy diagnostic tool for anyone listening right now. If you want to diagnose or determine if your dog or cat has fleas, you just simply go to the base of the tail, the tail head, so this is on the rump, the rear, and you just kind of, you know, use your thumbs and peel back the hair and if there are fleas there, you'll see them jump or move. They are photosensitive so they hate the light, so when they're exposed to light you'll see them dart. The other thing you can look for is what looks like sprinkled pepper in the fur, so it's called flea dirt.
Speaker 1:Flea dirt is flea poop, so this is the digested excrement from the flea and it looks like literally someone sprinkled pepper on your dog's fur and if you're seeing that they have fleas. But the place you're going to find it again to your point, because fleas have evolved to um, to live right at that area, because a dog it's so frustrating for the dog, right, if it was anywhere else the dog would have an easier time getting to it. But fleas know I mean instinctively, know, theatively. No, they know this is where we're going to breed and hang out, and so the dog can never get there, and that's where the signs are always present.
Speaker 2:So in those rare cases where you have to take a dog as you describe, a pet for further analysis, tests removing a tumor, et cetera, that's all subsidized by your sponsor, the company that sponsors you. And then are there also opportunities for individual folks to donate. I think I noticed on your website.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yes, you know, before we took on my sponsors, fetch in particular, this thing was run by small donations. You know $10 here, $20 there, and just add it up and we're a very lean machine. I've never paid myself for taking a dollar for the work. In fact, the six years prior, when I never told anybody about the work, I funded it out of my own pocket, which was one of the reasons eventually I had to form the 501c3. After doing it for six years, there were moments, there were months, where I would sacrifice paying my student loans to pay for someone's pet care in a hospital. But, yes, once we became a little more well-known and people started donating, yeah, it's, these are. These are small donors across the country who believe in what we do and they just they go to our site and donate and this is this is what fuels the mission.
Speaker 2:Having lived this journey. Now, what would your present self tell your, let's say, 18 18-year-old recent high school graduate? I think. If I'm not mistaken, you're from New Mexico and headed into college. The world is your oyster. What would you tell yourself at that point? Oh geez, we'd have a long chat.
Speaker 1:I'm sure that 18-year-old wouldn't like to hear much of what I would have to say. It typically goes, because I have a 23 year old son, I can just imagine I've well I've had speeches like that with him at that age and I'm sure I would have reacted much the same way. But you know, I think the strongest way to get, to get a message across to somebody isn't trying to hammer it through or preach, but to say look, some of the growing pains you're going to go through are the most important pieces of your future, and so trying to discourage someone from making mistakes all the time isn't always the best path. I think, had I not done some of the stupid things I've done in my life, in my youth, I may not be here today. If I had lived, maybe, a more privileged life, maybe I wouldn't be here today. So you know all the things we wish for. I wish I had more money as a kid. I wish I had a bigger house. I wish you know, in high school I remember my I was the thing I was most jealous of.
Speaker 1:I remember was this was the popular guy in my high school got this brand new truck. It was like that moment in Back to the Future where at the very end, he had a truck like that. I remember what the you know, life isn't fair and I remember seeing that guy at my 10-year reunion and he was working at a gas station. So, and I'm not saying that because he had money or privilege, that was necessarily the case, but I just. Those are moments you reflect and think. You know I had to work very hard for where, for what I got and where I am, and so anyways, back to your question. I don't know, it would, it would probably be a very consoling conversation if I had my withers about me and say look, you're going to make some mistakes.
Speaker 2:Would you still study to become a vet? Some mistakes. Would you still study to become a vet? Yes, if what I mean we can't live our lives in hindsight, but would you still go through that experience of the shelter?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, I would and I said withers, I meant druthers. If I had my druthers about me, I would absolutely tell that kid this is where I am now. I am a veterinarian and I'm very proud and fortunate. And go, go, do your thing without giving too much direction, right? You don't want to expose someone to too much stuff in their future. If they could be exposed to that, I would tell them to go out and do it. But, but, but, by all means.
Speaker 1:This profession has its very challenging parts. I don't know if you know this, but we suffer from one of the highest suicide rates of any profession, far higher than the general public. And people often ask why, if you're in such a wonderful profession, something you enjoy doing, you're passionate about, you've dreamed of doing since you were a child. What's going on right, and that's a whole other conversation. But yes, for a lot of reasons, we've suffered that unfortunate statistic.
Speaker 1:Quickly, I think it's because you take someone who is very emotional, emotionally in tune, let's say, right, we talk about this, we have your IQ, but then there's sort of this emotional quotient, right, that we're now more aware of. And I think you take someone who's highly empathetic and emotional and sensitive, which seems to draw people towards pets, right to caring for creatures. It's the kid who's out in his yard trying to take care of the bugs, or he's always looking out for living things. To me, children like that, people like that, are just wired a little differently. But you take this somewhat emotional person and you stick them in a profession where they are required on any given day to euthanize their patients, and sometimes these patients have become like their pets right. I've had to euthanize pets that are 15 years old. I've essentially felt like I've raised and I'm there with the family and the children having to euthanize this pet and I grieve too. And then there are moments, or emergency moments, you're losing pets. It's stressful. You're managing all these emotions day to day and then you sort of look back and think in certain moments like that's when I was seven.
Speaker 1:I was seven when I first realized I wanted to be a vet, and I was seven I just didn't. Ever that that wasn't. I wasn't aware of this piece of it. Again, the sensitive person is dealing with this very tough profession and so, despite that, I went off on a tangent, but despite that, I would say it is the most beautiful profession to have this knowledge, this what I would say almost power to save another living creature. Power to save another living creature. And I still wake up some mornings and think the coolest thing about my life is if my dog got sick, if there was an emergency, if he, if he got hit by a car right outside my front door, I have the experience and knowledge to potentially save him. That, that still, that that feeling, that thought I carry around even after 27 years of practice. It still warms me. So, yes, if you can manage the emotional part, it is to me the best profession on the planet.
Speaker 2:Not to probe too deeply into you personally, but what do you do to stay renewed and positive and, knowing what you know about your profession and the toll that it can take emotionally?
Speaker 1:The best management tool for me and I think it differs for everybody, but I do. When I'm giving my keynote lectures or presentations around the country, I talk about fill your cup Sort of a common phrase now, but that looks different for everybody, but the underlying premise is you find that thing that just gives you some joy, makes you smile. Mine is rooted in exercise. Uh, mine is rooted in exercise. So actually when I thought about quitting the vet profession, I was going to go off and be like a fitness trainer or something. My dad, uh, was a professional football player and so he was the athlete in the home. My mom was the academic, but my dad sort of gave me that, uh, the roots of working out and exercising since I was, you know, before I had memories, I think, and so that's always been a big part of my life and it's probably the thing that anchors me, calms me, relaxes me is if I just go out and do some form of exercise. Sometimes it's just walking, sometimes it's stretching. I like to cycle, but that works for me.
Speaker 1:For some people who may be reading, here's the interesting thing about having a dog real quick, and I think a lot of people will find this interesting. When you do something as simple as stroke your dog or give them a hug, or the same with your cat, there are three active chemicals that are released in your body. One is oxytocin. We all know about this A hug hormone makes you feel good. The other is prolactin not just for nursing mothers, but men can release prolactin as well. We observe that chemical release when you're hugging or petting your dog.
Speaker 1:Prolactin as well we observe that chemical release when you're hugging or petting your dog. It also is sort of a feel-good chemical. It can stave off things like depression and PTSD. And then phenolphthalein is another very similar to prolactin and we've seen that useful in people that do have severe forms of PTSD or trauma. But all three of these in the soup. These things are happening when you do something as simple as pet your dog. So for those of us that love pets, remembering just, I go out, sometimes in the backyard, and I just I'll give Cora a big hug and I'll sit there for three minutes and I'll pet her and sometimes that's enough. I get my dopamine release and I go back and I get back to work. So there are many tools, but I would just say, really it's just a matter of finding time to grant or honor yourself that and do it as you were describing the kid in the backyard trying to save the bugs, I flashed on the books by James Herriot.
Speaker 2:I think he's kind of a somewhat idyllic kind of country vet in England, but I remember my grandfather used to read those to me and it was that as you described, having the skills to be able to save an animal's life. That's a memory I'm going to take away from today's conversation because those are beautiful books.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they are. I love the. Jamie Funny. You say that I was doing an interview earlier this morning, a live interview on Zoom, and they asked about my book. So I've written a book called what it Takes to Save a Life. I have a copy here because I was holding it up and I know for everyone listening they can't see this. But I'm showing you now what it Takes to Save a Life and it was released last year and very similar. I call it sort of an urban side. James Harriot. He was countryside. He was walking through farms and ranches and people's homes. Mine is center city. It's walking up and down streets, skid row and I've taken my probably favorite 10 to 12 stories on the streets and I've stuck them in this book out of hundreds. So that was the hardest part is boiling it down to my favorite 10 to 12 stories on the streets and I've I've stuck them in this book out of hundreds. So that was the hardest part is boiling it down to my favorite 10, but that that is a premise of the book.
Speaker 2:And I think another parallel is that, as I recall his, his stories were as much about the colorful characters the farmers, the farmer's wives, the owner, the owners of the pets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the best part, that's been the best part. The owners of the pets yeah, that was the best part, that's been the best part for me. And my journey is sitting and talking and meeting and, you know, at times it's hearing their struggles. But for me, the thing I like to take away is the hope. You know, in this world we're all caught up in today, it's funny how incensed we become when someone just cuts us off in traffic or when we go to Starbucks and our coffee isn't made perfectly right and that just sends some people a tailspin. But then I go on the streets and I see people who have nothing and they are oftentimes smiling and hopeful and saying tomorrow's going to be a better day. Some of these people haven't even eaten that day and they're telling me this. So if there's any gift they grant me in this sort of exchange, it's that I take that home and I'm sitting at dinner with my kids and I just I think back to some of these encounters that I'm I'm so fortunate.
Speaker 2:So, in terms of getting involved in supporting project street vet, uh, as you mentioned, people can go to the website and make a donation. Um, yes, they can go to project street vetorg.
Speaker 1:They can, yes, they can go to projectstreetvetorg. And yes, there's an easy way to make a donation. We've now sort of broadened our ability to give and people can do it through a living gift or stocks or estates. So there's multiple ways to give with tax benefits. States so there's multiple ways to give with tax benefits. But yes, that is sort of the lifeblood of the mission, because everything we do, pretty much everything I take in because my veterinarians across the country they volunteer too is we try and get it to the pets.
Speaker 2:And your book is available on Amazon.
Speaker 1:On Amazon. Yeah, you can get it anywhere Amazon. It's in some bookstores. Yeah, available on.
Speaker 2:Amazon, amazon, yeah, I can get anywhere. Amazon, it's in some bookstores, yeah, fantastic. We'll also link to that um in the show notes and, and certainly going to link to your um, your sponsor, the uh fetch pet insurance. I think that's a very powerful story, um, that a company would, would, would put themselves out there, uh, on behalf of this work. Would put themselves out there on behalf of this work. Yes, yeah, you've been extremely generous with your time. I have one last question for you, but before I get there, is there anything that I haven't covered that may be rattling around in your head to share?
Speaker 1:No, I think we've covered most of the bases. This is such a broad topic depending on, as I said, if I was touching on suicide in my veterinary profession or some of the stories I have on the streets, we could sit here and do this for three hours. I mean, even to me. It still lights me up in a very good way, in a very good way. But no, I'm very thankful that you allowed me to share my story and some of the challenges, but some of the really the wonderful moments, the blessings I've received from doing this work.
Speaker 1:I do often like to remind people that an act of kindness is a very powerful thing and it can not only change someone's day. But there have been moments where I feel like an act of kindness has changed lives, perhaps me to someone else, but I know there are people who have shown very random, spontaneous acts of kindness to me that have changed mine, and that is a message that I like to promote very strongly, because when you do something for somebody else without agenda, without an expectation for pay for money, it's outside of your duties or responsibilities at your work, but you're just doing something for another human being. There is something and I don't quite understand it, but there's something happening down, I think, to the cellular level. Down, I think, to the cellular level, you know, the bones of our spirit. That is really, really special.
Speaker 2:And finding moments to do that more often, I think people will find, you know, it provides some sort of life force and that's simple and profound at the same time, and especially, I think, given where we are in terms of being a country so divided on so many fronts. You mentioned social media. I'm also many fronts. You mentioned social media. I'm also a big avoider of social media Any chance I get to not read the comments. But we've got a divided country in so many different ways and so, yeah, just that, without agenda, without expecting anything. I'm definitely going to carry that away from today's conversation. So I thank you for that. My last question is a hypothetical. You're in LA, so we're going to choose the 405 freeway. You have the chance to put a billboard on the side of the 405 freeway with your message to the hundreds of thousands of commuters who drive by there every day. What does your billboard say? Hundreds of thousands of commuters who drive by there every day? What?
Speaker 1:does your billboard say oh, wow, I don't know. I don't think that question has been posed. I have to answer this on the fly. That's why I didn't tell you in advance. I know Now you stuck me. That's good though. Hey, I like it it's.
Speaker 1:You know the motto. I'll tell you our motto for the mission, which I came up with. My brother and I came up with years ago my brother who, by the way, helps me run this and has been instrumental. So thank you, ian. But we came up with this motto no judgment, just help. And you know to your point, a big part of the division, or the big part of something that divides even a household, for example, or keeps people from showing that act of kindness, is this moment of judgment in our head right. There's something that pops up like no, you don't deserve it. No, you're not worthy. I'm better than you. How did you find yourself in this situation? And I believe that that judgment unfortunately holds us back from being the best version of ourselves. So maybe I would just happily stick my own motto up on the billboard that says no judgment, just help, because that is, that is the mantra that myself and my other veterinarians live by.
Speaker 2:That's a beautiful place, I think to to wrap up today's conversation. Dr Stewart, I very much appreciate this conversation. I'm humbled by your work. I want to encourage our listeners to donate. Check out the show notes. There are going to be links to buy Dr Stewart's book and to maybe practice some unexpected kindness today in all of our lives. So thank you so much for your time and generosity of spirit in all that you do. Thank you, thank you and thank you for carrying my message forward. Appreciate it. Thanks for joining us on the Hangout Podcast. You can send us an email at podcastinfo at protonme. Many thanks to my daughter, maya, for editing this episode. I'd also like to underline that this podcast is entirely separate from my day job and, as such, all opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thanks for coming on in and hanging out.
