The 91̽�� will build “pop-up galleries” in public spaces around Seattle in October that will use autobiographical photographs taken by people experiencing homelessness with their companion animals. The photos will be accompanied by quotes from the participants about the challenges and the important bonds they share with their animals and other information from related research.

Pop-up gallery schedule:

• Oct. 4 on UW’s Red Square
• Oct. 7 in Occidental Square in Seattle’s Pioneer Square district
• Oct. 10 in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park
• Oct. 13 in the Ballard Commons Park.

91̽��researchers available at the gallery events:

• Vickie Ramirez, senior research and program coordinator at the Center for One Health Research in the 91̽��School of Public Health
• Gemina Garland-Lewis, photographer and research coordinator in the Center for One Health

About the project:

The galleries are the latest event by the , a center in the 91̽��School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, as part of their long-running project to help improve the health and lives of people experiencing homelessness with their service animals, emotional support animals and pets.

Earlier this summer, the researchers created pilot clinics for including animals into healthcare for the homeless. They joined with veterinarians from Washington State University to establish the One Health Clinic.

For this part of the One Health project, Gemina Garland-Lewis, creator of the website, put disposable cameras and notebooks into the hands of nearly twenty people to document their life experiences. The galleries feature personal moments in their lives and will also feature data visualizations and community maps by Vickie Ramirez created from her research.

For more information, contact:
Vickie Ramirez, ramirezv@uw.edu
91̽��News video producer Kiyomi Taguchi at ktaguchi@uw.edu.

Sparked by a grant from the  91̽��Population Health Initiative, the UW’s has created a series of pop-up galleries featuring autobiographical photographs made by people experiencing homelessness with their animal companions.

The first gallery was Oct. 4 in UW’s Red Square. Other pop-up gallery events are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, at Occidental Square in Seattle’s Pioneer Square district; Oct. 10 in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park; and Oct. 13 in the Ballard Commons Park.

The events also feature data visualizations and community maps based on research conducted during the One Health project. In addition to the center, which is part of the 91̽��Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health, collaborators include 91̽��School of Law, School of Social Work and School of Nursing.

The center’s photo galleries will provide windows into the lives of people experiencing homelessness as they navigate the complexities of getting through their days and nights with a service animal, emotional support animal or pet.

“It made sense to start a foundation in storytelling, because this is an issue that is so heavily polarized, especially in Seattle, that data alone wouldn’t necessarily be the first way you were going to start the conversation,” said , a photographer and One Health research coordinator.

So Garland-Lewis, whose own photos and stories of people experiencing homelessness with their animals can be found at , put disposable cameras and notebooks into the hands of nearly 20 people to document their life experiences. The participants had the cameras for an average of 32 days and created a total of 800 images.

She hopes that when pet-loving Seattleites see the human-animal bond evident in these photos and stories, they will recognize “that they have something in common with someone they thought they had nothing in common with. That’s the door to the data, to look at the data, to look at the issue and think about solutions.”

Earlier this year, One Health researchers tested pilot clinics for including animals in health care services for the homeless. And just this past summer, they joined with veterinarians from Washington State University and Neighborcare Health to establish the One Health Clinic. At the clinic, a person could see a doctor and have their animal seen by a veterinarian.

, senior research and program coordinator at the center, also collected data through 44 qualitative and quantitative interviews to develop an understanding of the needs and gaps in services for people experiencing homelessness with their animals. Among her findings:

• 76 percent of people experiencing homelessness reported barriers to resources due to having an animal
• 64 percent reported being harassed for having an animal
• 55 percent indicated their pets were designated service animals or emotional support animals

Collaborators from the 91̽��School of Law also explored the matrix of city, state and federal laws around animals designated as service or emotional support animals. The Law School group created a Know Your Rights document to help a homeless person navigate the legal complexities and be able to assert their rights when it comes to, for example, getting on a city bus with an animal.

Ramirez hopes the One Health Clinic approach to incorporating animals into health care for the homeless will catch on.

“We are getting calls from all over the country from service providers who want to learn how they can replicate our model,” she said. “We want to be able to build a protocol for how to set this up and how it works for other communities to use.”

Other organizations that supported the research include New Horizons, PSKS, Teen Feed, Youth Care, Roots, Street Youth Ministries, the Paws Project and Seattle Dogs Homeless Program.

The gallery had additional financial support from the schools of Social Work and Law.

For more information, contact Ramirez at ramirezv@uw.edu.

Facebook: Center for One Health Research @COHR.UW; One Health Clinic @OneHealthClinic