Tier 1 – Primary Caregivers (~40)
Role: Daily Continuity & Direct Animal Care
Primary caregivers form the backbone of the Sanctuary’s daily operations. With approximately 40 team members distributed across 250+ enclosures and multiple medical cohorts, they provide uninterrupted foundational care.
Core Responsibilities:
- Feeding protocols tailored to cohort-specific diets (renal, hepatic, cardiac, mobility-restricted)
- Water management and hydration monitoring
- Cleaning and sanitation of enclosures
- Bedding rotation for paralysis and geriatric cases
- Observation of behavioural or medical changes
- Social interaction and emotional reassurance
For paralysed dogs, this tier supports:
- Scheduled bladder expression assistance
- Prevention of pressure sores
- Hygiene management
For blind dogs:
- Environmental stability
- Controlled movement support
- Gentle sensory cue reinforcement
This layer ensures that medical plans created at higher tiers are implemented consistently, accurately, and compassionately, every single day.
Tier 2 – Specialised Handlers (~20)
Role: Cohort-Specific Care & Rehabilitation Execution
Approximately 20 specialised handlers operate across defined disability cohorts and behavioural groups. These are not general caregivers, they are trained for high-intensity, high-risk, or specialised cases.
Assigned Cohorts Include:
- Neurological & Paralysis Units
- Behavioural Rehabilitation Enclosures
- High-Mobility Rehabilitation Areas
- Hydrotherapy Support Teams
- Orthopaedic & Dysplasia Care
Core Responsibilities:
- Mobility assistance & wheelchair fitting
- Structured physiotherapy sessions
- Hydrotherapy support & pool safety
- Behavioural desensitisation programs
- Controlled group integration
- Aggression mitigation & trauma recovery
Handlers act as case anchors for complex dogs who require more than routine care, particularly long-term paralysis and trauma cases.
Their expertise prevents deterioration and extends survival in chronic populations.
Tier 3 – Paravets (~10)
Role: Clinical Execution & Medical Intervention
The paravet layer bridges the gap between caregiving and veterinary medicine. Approximately 10 paravets operate across the Referral Hospital, ICU block, and chronic-care wards.
Core Responsibilities:
- Medication administration (oral, injectable)
- IV fluid management for renal and critical cases
- Dressing changes and wound management
- Catheter placement assistance
- Monitoring of vitals in the ICU and quarantine
- Post-operative recovery management
- Emergency response support
Operational Areas:
- 48-bed ICU & inpatient treatment block
- 10 isolation kennels
- 24 quarantine kennels
- 6 active hospital stations
They maintain detailed logs that feed into VOSD’s data-backed case management systems, ensuring medical continuity over years rather than days.
Tier 4 – Veterinary Oversight (2)
Role: Clinical Governance & Institutional Decision-Making
Two senior veterinarians provide top-level medical supervision across the Sanctuary and Referral Hospital. Their role is not episodic treatment; it is institutional oversight.
Core Responsibilities:
- Daily medical rounds across cohorts
- Admission triage & cohort classification
- Surgical interventions (Operating Theatre)
- ICU case supervision
- Chronic disease management planning
- Pain management protocol calibration
- Mortality reviews & ethical decision frameworks
- Escalation from HelpDesk L2 triage
- Training & supervision of paravets and handlers
Integration with the broader system:
- Referral case analysis
- Protocol refinement based on case volume
- Documentation for public health & Supreme Court submissions
- Clinical standardisation across units
This tier ensures that the system operates as a structured chronic-care medical institution, not a reactive rescue shelter.
24×7 Residential Model – The Multiplier
All 75 team members live onsite.
This eliminates:
- Night-shift discontinuity
- Delayed emergency response
- Care gaps in paralysis management
- Fluid therapy interruptions
- Post-surgical monitoring lapses
Emergencies at 2 AM are not escalations; they are handled in real time.
For 2,000+ dogs with high medical complexity, this continuity is life-extending.
Why This Architecture Matters
Most shelters operate on a volunteer or day-shift staffing model. This system operates on:
- Cohort specialisation
- Residential continuity
- Medical layering
- Structured escalation
- Defined accountability
This workforce architecture enables:
- ~400 monthly admissions
- Multi-year chronic care
- Complex organ failure management
- Paralysis survival extension
- Hospice dignity
At scale.