ORANGE PARK – Florida Sen. Jennifer Bradley admitted during last week’s Legislative Roundup at the Thrasher-Horne Conference Center that her attempt to create telehealth for animal care was a “challenge.” Still, it didn’t keep her from pushing for a resolution.

“One, it was in my wheelhouse because it dealt with animals, and I support animal legislation,” she said. “I’m always looking for ways to protect animals. One, because I think it’s the right thing to do as a compassionate human. Violence against animals is often a precursor to violence against people.”

Bradley said there are large swatches of rural Florida where veterinary care may be more than an hour away. She has pushed for veterinary telehealth care for more than one session, and she finally got some concessions to make her vision a reality.

“It’s an issue that has been tried again, and it’s been four or five years where it’s been filed in Tallahassee,” she said. “Both sides are dug in. The vets and the folks who want to open it up want to provide that access to care. For years, the issue was really a stalemate. They came to me this year. They said, please try and do this. I listened to all the data; you know 40% of our pets are abandoned or surrendered a lot of times because there isn’t access, either an access issue or an affordability issue, to get medical care. Vet telehealth should be sufficient or available for every ailment your pet has. If you’re still going to have to go to the vet, there are a lot of issues that can be treated via telehealth if we do it safely.”

Bradley said telehealth doctors can’t write prescriptions for controlled substances, so the program can’t be used to support drug abuse for humans. Animals can get quicker, essential medical treatment by making a simple phone call.

“We put some guardrails on the prescribing,” Bradley said. “No controlled substances are going to be able to be prescribed by that telehealth. You’re only going to be able to prescribe animal meds, so you can’t have criminal situations for certain medications. We really crafted it as a result of hours and hours of being together. The first veterinary telehealth bill in Florida will really be helpful for everyone who ever had to take half a day off work and get a beautiful dog or an elderly dog to the vet.”