Caring for Our Own: A Day at Short Pump Animal Hospital

How a Homecoming raffle, a working day at one of our hospitals, and the VPP Employee Assistance Fund reflect what it means to be one community.

At VPP, we talk often about being One Team, One Community. It is more than a phrase. It is a promise we make to one another, and the Employee Assistance Fund is one of the clearest expressions of that promise.

Established in 2020 by VPP leadership, the Employee Assistance Fund (EAF) was created around a simple belief: no one in our community should face life’s hardest moments alone. It is an employee-directed fund, powered entirely by the generosity of our own people, and it exists to be there when a teammate needs us most.

Since 2020, our community has contributed more than $475,000 through the EAF, helping fellow team members and their families navigate overwhelming medical bills, housing emergencies, the loss of a loved one, natural disasters, child care challenges, and other unexpected hardships. Every dollar comes from VPP team members supporting one another, and every dollar goes back to a teammate in need.

A Tradition That Brings the Mission to Life

Each year at our Homecoming event, we host a raffle to benefit the EAF. Team members buy tickets for the chance to bring a senior leader to their hospital for a working day. Every dollar raised goes directly into the fund, and the leader who is selected spends a real shift alongside the staff, learning the work firsthand.

It is one of the most meaningful traditions we have, and the impact runs in both directions. The dollars raised support our people in their hardest moments, and the experience itself gives our leaders a deeper understanding of the work happening inside our hospitals every day. Our community supports its own, and the people who serve get to serve right alongside the staff.

This year, the team at Short Pump Animal Hospital in Glen Allen, Virginia called up our COO, Rich Pacheco. We sent a camera along.

A Real Shift, Side by Side

Rich did not stop by for a photo op. He worked. He filled water buckets and mopped floors. He helped fill prescriptions and double-checked dosages with the technicians. He cleaned up after the dogs. He answered the phone, greeted clients, and rescheduled appointments. He learned, on the spot, that good work in a hospital is the kind of work that takes years to do well.

In his own words:

“What happens in the office is not what happens at the hospital. The only way we can understand and be reminded of what the hospital is, is to spend time with the caring professionals who do the hard work.”
Rich Pacheco, COO

That is the gift of this tradition. Spending a day inside a real hospital, alongside the team, gives our leaders a clear-eyed view of what our people do, why it matters, and just how much skill and care it requires.

“I can mop a floor, I can do laundry, I can hold an animal as a pet owner. But the way to do it correctly for medical purposes is a whole level of skill that people spend years learning and mastering.”
Rich Pacheco, COO

Why the EAF Matters

Veterinary medicine is a calling. The work is meaningful, but it can also be hard, and life outside the hospital does not pause when our people are at their busiest. A car breaks down. A loved one passes. A storm damages a home. A medical bill arrives that no one was expecting.

The Employee Assistance Fund is how we make sure our team members are not alone in those moments. Applications are reviewed by a committee from HR, Operations, and Finance, and approvals are based on need and available funding. The process is simple, the support is real, and it is made possible entirely by the generosity of fellow VPP team members.

When you buy a raffle ticket at Homecoming, you are doing two things at once. You are helping a teammate through a difficult time, and you are giving one of our leaders the chance to step into the daily life of a VPP hospital. Both are gifts. Both are part of who we are.

How to Support the EAF

If you would like to learn more about the Employee Assistance Fund, contribute, or apply for support, please visit the EAF page. Every contribution, large or small, helps a fellow VPP team member when they need it most.

To the team at Short Pump Animal Hospital, thank you for welcoming Rich, for the patience you showed him throughout the day, and for the work you do for your patients, your clients, and one another. To everyone who has bought a raffle ticket, donated, or leaned on the fund, thank you for making this community what it is.