PET SAFETY WORKSHOPS - Kim Bradley with Paws4Safety teaches a workshop on pet first aid with the local fire department in Fresno, California. Having recently relocated to Southeast Arkansas, Bradley is looking to offer workshops to pet owners. Bradley has been certified to teach pet first aid and basic care since 2014. She is certified and holds numerous diplomas in natural pet treatment and care, including caring for senior pets and end-of-life care. Her most recent diplomas were for pet loss and grief counseling. (Photo Courtesy Kim Bradley)
Kim Bradley
RISON - When it comes to first aid, people may not think about the the need to administer first aid to an animal.
Kim Bradley recently relocated to Southeast Arkansas from the Bay area of California and brought her Paws4Safety mission with her, "Because moments matter." To reach more people with tips and safety advice geared towards caring for pets, Bradley has launched a weekly column in the Cleveland County Herald, which began in the June 4 issue last week.
Last week's column provided signs to look for with heat strokes as we lead into warm summer months. This week, Bradley brings awareness to fleas and ticks.
To introduce this column, Bradley joins the latest episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast with co-hosts Britt Talent, Douglas Boultinghouse and Roy Phillips.
Growing up in California, the youngest of three siblings with a bit of an age gap between them, Bradley said she was left home with the pets quite a bit while her older siblings went off with their friends.
The dogs and cats she cared for became her friends and a large part of her life.
"I always had a pet," she said. "I can't remember a time without one, including being a child. And then as I got a little bit older, I developed a thing called panic disorder, and it was debilitating. I was stuck home. And during that time period, I think one of the only things that kept me sane was my dog." Bradley said the dog motivated her to get up in the mornings, and when her daughter would be at school or off playing, the dog still needed attention.
"I had to get up. I had to take them outside. I had to care for them. They might have had an appointment at the vet. I had to make sure that whatever was going on with me was always secondary to being able to provide care for that pet, and so I referred to them for a very long time as little healers." Growing out of that disorder, she said she never forgot the role that pets played in her healing journey so wanted to pay that forward. She then developed a soft spot for animals with their own debilitating issues.
She currently shares her home with a crippled pug named Morty Smalls that has no use of his back legs and is nearly 100 percent deaf, as well as another pug named Ferdinand that had his eyes removed due to glaucoma. Caring for these animals and others opened her eyes to the extremely expensive costs of veterinary care. This prompted her to start visiting clinics and learning just how much the veterinarians and staffs spend on advancements in care and state-ofthe-art equipment.
She also learned quite a bit about care techniques along the way.
'I started studying myself natural and holistic health care for pets,' she said. 'I'm constantly on webinars, studying, trying to bring the latest information to pet owners.'
Bradley has been certified to teach pet first aid and basic care since 2014. She is certified and holds numerous diplomas in natural pet treatment and care, including caring for senior pets and end-of-life care. Her most recent diplomas were for pet loss and grief counseling.
Across California and just now getting started in Arkansas, she hosts workshops to train the community on how to care for their pets.
She provides hands-on demonstrations and protocols for CPR, bleeding, shock, poisoning, choking and more.
These techniques prepare pet owners for what to do in the critical moments when you cannot get to a vet clinic immediately, such as how to perform a Heimlich maneuver on a dog.
She is open to hosting the workshops in Rison. Any organization, such as fire departments, churches, etc., can contact Bradley through www. paws4safety.com to schedule a workshop.
At the workshops, Bradley offers various kits and tools for pet owners to keep on hand out walking their dogs, at home with their cats, or other animals.
Best of all, the items in the kits can also be used to treat humans, such as stopping bleeds or safely removing ticks, or treating bee stings that could cause anaphylactic shock.
These kits can also be purchased online.
During the podcast, Bradley also shares how a cross-country road trip to pick up her granddaughter in 2018 gave her her first taste of life outside of California. As she traveled along Interstate 40 into Arkansas, she was captivated by the greenery.
The trip motivated her to start looking for places to live in Arkansas where the temperatures were just a little bit better and she settled on south of Little Rock.
She also shares what it was like moving here and traveling the country with her dogs and a Persian cat on her lap.
The full episode is streaming now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ClevelandCountyHerald.com below: