One Health

Delaware Valley University’s One Health, under new leadership, will launch a major fundraising campaign to raise money and collect supplies for the local SPCA.

New leadership, a new direction

Access Services Librarian Claire Drolet and colleague Alicia Shenko took over the group after longtime leader Reg Hoyt retired last year. Hoyt, an associate professor and chair of the Animal Biotechnology and Conservation Department, had led the faculty, staff and student group that built One Health into a campus-wide identity at DelVal.

Under Drolet and Shenko, the group is aiming for one seminar and one event each term, with a push for what Drolet calls “One Health in ACTION,” an effort to pull “the people power of DelVal together to make an impact on our community.”

We want to make it so that you all feel involved, that we all can get our hands dirty and do something for the planet, for animals, for people.

Claire Drolet, Access Services Librarian

Where to donate

From Friday, Oct. 2, through Friday, Oct. 9, the group will run its first Animal Welfare Campaign, raising both money and supplies for the Bucks County SPCA. Collection points will be set up at locations around campus and at events the group is hosting throughout the week.

Drolet listed the drop sites planned for the partnership, with at least one expected to be open around the clock.

“We have our wonderful Sylvia Hirsch who works in LSB. Her desk area right in front of that lobby is going to be a drop site. Public Safety has agreed to have our materials there as well, so they can absolutely take things 24-7, which is wonderful. I’m going to make the library also a nice little drop site.”

Reaching beyond campus

It’s not just DelVal that is getting involved. One Health plans to branch out into the broader Doylestown community through the greenhouse café and plant shop Terrain, located close to DelVal’s main campus.

“I have to work on the Terrain angle, but we’re going to try to get one in Terrain as well. Because Doylestown, 202, all of that, it seems a good way to catch the eye of the public beyond DelVal,” Drolet said.

Staff from the Bucks County SPCA and AARK, the wildlife rehabilitation center in Chalfont, have agreed to come to campus to demonstrate their work, “being available to talk to our students if they’re interested in a career such as that,” she said.

Organizers are also coordinating photos with pets as a thank-you for donors, with Drolet offering another incentive: “We are giving out really cute bandannas.”

A website with details on donating, volunteering and adopting locally is expected before the drive begins. Ways to help the organizations involved will be included, with lists of needed supplies as the main focus.

What One Health means at DelVal

The campaign is all part of One Health, which treats human, animal and environmental well-being as interconnected. DelVal has spent years teaching the concept. First-year students are introduced to One Health, the university offers a minor in One Health Communication, and past programming has included a mock disease outbreak conducted with federal epidemiologists and veterinarians.

Annual One Health Week events have drawn hundreds of pledge signatures from students, staff and faculty.

Under Drolet and Shenko, students can expect One Health to honor Hoyt’s legacy by taking the next step in connecting DelVal with the community in ways that impact both students and the surrounding area. Drolet said future projects hope to expand even further, and she emphasized the belief that even a small group of people can make a change.

“What makes you think a small group of individuals could possibly change the world?” And the other character says, “Because it’s the only thing that has.”

Claire Drolet, quoting The West Wing

A snowball effect is expected in the years ahead.

“We start small and we keep working through and giving people something to rally behind, and to show we can do things in small groups and we can make an impact on our community,” Drolet said.