Helping furry friends through foster care and volunteering

Trish Hill jokes that she’s always on call for the question, “Trish, can ya … ?”

For the past five years, Hill has fostered 25 animals and clocked 3,000 volunteer hours at the MSPCA Cape Cod animal shelter in Centerville.

The registered nurse certified in wound care has fostered a variety of animals, from guinea pigs and rabbits to puppies and pregnant dogs. It all started when she was looking for a place to volunteer with her teenage son in 2017. “But I never stopped,” says Hill.

Hill’s Monday-through-Thursday schedule at the Wound Care Center in Bourne allows her to volunteer every Friday at the animal shelter, where she assists with everything from sterilizing instruments to helping to intubate the animals. “As a nurse, it is very parallel to what I do anyway, just with a different clientele,” says Hill. “Because I am a certified nurse, I am not intimidated by things, which I think they appreciate.” One time, she recalls providing a helpful set of hands when the veterinarian was performing a C-section. “I was helping to hold the puppies as we were taking them out of the mother,” says Hill.

At the animal shelter, Hill has been nicknamed the “whirling dervish” because she’s always busy and never knows what she will be doing. In addition to assisting the veterinarian and technicians with surgery and wounds, she also helps with the laundry, organizing equipment or unpacking boxes. “It’s so rewarding because I feel so appreciated by the animals and staff,” says Hill. “I can help out without the pressure of being a nurse and the pressure to document. It makes me so happy.”