January 1, 2024 • 12 mins
Amy King is joined by Dr. Kwane Stewart, otherwise known as 'The Street Vet.' Dr. Stewart dedicates his time to helping the pets of those who are homeless in Southern California through free veterinary services, knowing that often, these pets are the only thing keeping people going. Recently named CNN's Hero Of The Year, Dr. Stewart once again showed his dedication and selflessness by taking his prize and splitting it among all ten finalists. Listen to his inspiring story.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is a real treat because it'snot every day that you get to talk
to a bona fide hero. Butwith us this morning, we have doctor
Kwan Stewart, the street Vet.He is CNN's brand new Hero of the
Year. Congratulations, doctor Stuart,thank you, thank you so much.
So doctor Stewart, tell us aboutwhat you do that got CNN's attention.
(00:25):
So I've been a vedinara now forhe's going on twenty six years. But
about halfway through my career, Ifound myself actually wanting to quit my own
profession. And there's a longer storybehind it, but I was a shelter
veterinarian at the time and it wasjust on a good time to be a
shelter at a municipality, no less, we had a high youth and Asia
(00:48):
eight. It was during the recession, and I felt like exiting, exiting
and just finding something else. Entirelydifferent is that, because it was just
so heartbreaking to see, Like yousaid, it was during the recession and
people were turning in pets and sothe shelters were probably flooded and overcrowded,
and so you have no choice atthat point, but then to euthanize them.
(01:11):
Right. It was the euthanasias thatwere getting to me, and they
were daily, and they were bythe dozens, and it was it just
started to kill a part of mysoul. And you know, when you're
little boy dreaming of being a vetone day, it's not what you envisioned.
So yeah, I was, youknow, looking back now, and
you don't really fully realize it orappreciate the time. I think I was
(01:33):
going through some depression doing the work, and how could you not when you're
seeing that daily. And yeah,I just happened to come across this unhoused
man and his dog, and throughsort of a random act of helping him
of kindness, I rediscovered why Ishould be in this profession that over the
years coffee attention of multiple people,but ultimately CNN okay, tell me about
(02:00):
the man and his dog. Well, he was sitting there outside of seven
eleven, sort of off to theside, and sometimes we'll see them panhandling.
I went in to get coffee,and as I came out, I
looked to my left and he wasthere crossing the corner with his dog.
And I, you know, regretably, i'd seen this guy before and I
had ignored him before, but onthis day, probably because I was in
(02:23):
my own funk. In fact,I was in my head just before I
went in. I was writing myletter of resignation, sort of sort of
crafting it in my head as Iwas getting my coffee. And so,
for whatever reason, I was inthis mental space and I took notice of
him and his dog. I steppedover. I could tell his dog had
a serious skin issue. It turnedout just to be fleezed. And for
anyone listening who may or may notown a dog, if a dog has
(02:44):
fleas long enough, it can completelydestroy the skin. And this dog looked
like a burn victim. The hairwas gone, the skin was red,
and Bumpy was infected. The dogis miserable. The man was miserable.
He was living with his dog andthe fleas as well. And I just
I leaned over. I introduced myself. I said, I'm a quand Steward,
I'm a veterinarian. If you're heretomorrow, I'll return with something that
(03:06):
should help. I did as promised. It was all of three dollars out
of my pockets. It was justa basic flea treatment. And I saw
the same dog about a week anda half later, and the dog was
just transformed, happy, the hairwas coming back, and the man sitting
in the same spot looking up atme, said, with tears in his
eyes, thank you for not ignoringme. And I just had this lightning
(03:30):
bolt of feeling. It was sorewarding, and it was so easy.
It took so little of my timeto just pull this dog out of suffering,
a dog that probably otherwise never wouldhave gotten help. Just the man
just didn't have resources, obviously,and I just told myself I'm going to
do more of this. And thatwas twelve years ago and I haven't stopped
since. Okay, so now whatdo you do, because now we know
(03:53):
that you are the street vent,so tell us about what you're out and
about doing. I packed a bagand supplies is pretty simple, and in
it are vaccines, at inflammatories,antibiotics. Tonyil trimmer is just a basic
kit. And I hit impoverised areasof the cities, mainly southern California where
(04:15):
I live. I live in SanDiego, but I go up to La
a lot at skid row, andI just walk through these encampments and I
look for people in pets. OurCensus tells us that about twenty percent of
our homeless own the pets. That'sbeen my observation as well. It's about
one out of five. And soif you just walk through these areas,
you're going to come across people inpets. And when I do, I
(04:35):
introduce myself just like I did aday at seven to eleven, and ask
them if I can help their dogin any way. Usually I say yes,
and I just get to work,and I can treat about eighty percent
of the dogs I see the casesI see out of that bag about eighty
percent, So I can do alot out of a pretty small bag.
For the other twenty percent, Ineed to get them into hospital care for
(04:59):
further care. It could be anaesthetic procedure to or move a tumor,
or extract a tooth or what haveyou. But we will and we cover
all the costs. And who yousay we cover the cost Who pays for
this? Well, my charity.It's a Project Street Vet and we officially
formed in twenty twenty. It's fiveon one and yeah, through that through
(05:20):
donations and and we have this isthe part of brows me Away. Yeah,
I know, we're a pet lovingnation, and we are. There
is something about pets and our connectionto them, and it just plays out
over and over. They're more popularthan they've ever been, this younger generation,
(05:41):
or replacing kids with pets. It'sjust it's a part of who we
are. And I just never imaginewhen I started this charity that people would
would be as generous as they are, and they are so giving, and
the whole mission runs entirely on donations. But people have been so generous and
(06:03):
we do. We have good resources. We're well resourced, and so I
never have to turn an animal away. If anim needs to go in for
a five thousand dollars procedure, thenwe can cover it. If it's something
lest we being covered, if it'sfollow up care, rechecks and so forth,
then we have the resources that takecare of these animals the way they
need to be cared for. That'sso amazing, doctor Stewart. And then
(06:24):
you've also taken it a step furtherby there's a new program you have where
you've launched a food pantry, butit's just for dogs. Yeah, I
know that was That was an ideaI've been sitting on for a while and
through the years of doing this onething, I realized that, yeah,
I'm giving free medical care, butI'm sort of neglecting the nutrition side.
(06:46):
And as we know more than ever, nutrition is important for total health.
It's an important component for total health. So and I will tell people that
just to dispel this myth. Thesedogs are for the most part, very
well cared for. It's rare thatI come across a skin email nourished dog,
a sickly dog. I see alot of the same conditions I see
(07:10):
in clinic, in hospital. It'sa lot of skin issues, ear infections,
flee in tick. That's what Californiais known for. And it's the
same out in the streets. Butyou know, these owners will sacrifice their
own meal for their dogs so thatthey have for a lot of them on
my bad, it's it's their familymember. Yeah, and they do everything
they can to keep their dog andas good health as they can. And
(07:33):
so but having said that, theystill, you know, they struggle to
get you know, things like foodfor their dog. A lot of good
Smaritans will drop off a bag andthey see someone on a corner with a
dog. There are other services willcome through the town the city and offload
you know, dog food from aflatbed truck, but it's haphazard, it's
(07:54):
not consistent. I said, thesedogs ultimately need they need consistent nutrition.
So what can I do? SoI just came up with idea. I'm
going to put a shed. It'sbasically just a closet. It's a dog
food shed, and anyone living inthat area on how it can com buy
any time. It's on the honorsystem and the food is free. They
just open it up and take whatthey need. That's amazing, so important
to take care of the babies,the little fur babies. So then tell
(08:18):
us, doctor Stewart, how'd youget see Ann's attention. I guess just
doing the work over over the years. I got nominated. And that's how
it works. If anybody can nominateanybody for doing this. So if you
know of somebody out there doing goodin the world, you can nominate them
for seeing it in hero And apparentlythey're over. I was told here at
the end they're over ten thousand nominationsand they whittled down. They just narrowed
(08:43):
the field, you know, moreand more over the course of six or
eight months, and there was avery intense vetting process along with it.
But I find myself in the topthirty, and then in the top thirty
you can actually call yourself a CMNhero and you can put it on your
resume. And then the top thirtygo to ten, and then they crowned
the Hero of the Year, andsomehow I was able to beat up and
(09:05):
beat up the field and win itall. Well, I think this is
probably one of the reasons Doctor Stewart, after you got word that you had
won, you immediately moved forward andsaid, I want to split this prize.
See you got me all choked up, doctor Stewart. I mean,
like, that's so big of you, because how big is It's like one
(09:26):
hundred thousand dollars right, yeah?Yeah, they winner got one hundred thousand
for their mission. And what doctorStewart did as he immediately said, I
want to split this between all ofthe top ten finalists. I did.
Yeah, that's time. It feltright in the moment. What people should
know is prior to the gala,a few days leading up to the gala,
I was hanging out the other nineon our ease, and we really
(09:48):
got to know each other and ourmissions, our sacrifices to the years.
I thought about my own ten twelveyear journey and some of them of fifteen
twenty years of doing what they've beendoing and reaching into their own pocket,
and I just I was I washonored to know them. And in that
moment, I just, you know, I've gotten here in part because I've
been willing to share, and Ithought so have they, and we should
(10:11):
all celebrate together. And I wouldn'tchange it. I think that's just a
testament to you. So, doctorStewart, what's next? More of this?
I guess I funny part of theearly early story when I, you
know, after the day I foundthat man outside of seven eleven, I
started doing the work very quietly,and by quietly, I almost mean secretly.
(10:33):
I didn't tell anybody for six yearswhat I was doing. I would
evenings or occasional weekends, and Ihad true time. I would just go
out and search these people and findtheir pets, treet through pets. It
was just a way for me toheal. Going back to the shelter days.
I didn't want to. It wasn'treally anything I wanted to talk about
or share. I didn't want tobe judged myself. I didn't want to
be in a group of people andhave someone say, why are you helping
(10:54):
them? They don't deserve help.I didn't want to hear it. I
just wanted to go out and doit. So that was the first six
years of the little Adventure, andthen it started to gain attention in favor
and I just never dreamed it wouldbe me walking sort of in the shadows
find these people. To now we'rein six cities. We just launched in
New York City, and so theplan is just to keep moving on,
(11:16):
to move on to the next bigcity, the next big city, and
I think if I can get intotwelve to fifteen of the largest cities in
the country, I will cover agood seventy five percent of our homeless population
and their pets. That's amazing.And doctor Stewart, you can't do it
on your own. So how canpeople donate? They can go to projects
Treatment dot org, and our websiteshares all the information they would need and
(11:41):
stories and content and updates and away to volunteer. And you know,
I'll just tell people sometimes it's messagesof support to myself and my team.
I volunteer my time to do thework. I still to this day.
My veterinarians, my technicians, myassistants who come on board, who volunteer
across the country, who reach outto me, They they give their time
(12:01):
freely and willingly. And yeah,just the comments, the warm comments we
get on Instagram or on the website, those two are nice. There you
have at cann Hero of the Year, and after just a short conversation with
you, we can certainly see whyI appreciate it. Thank you so much,
This is a real treat because it'snot every day that you get to talk
to a bona fide hero. Butwith us this morning, we have doctor
Kwan Stewart, the street Vet.He is CNN's brand new Hero of the
Year. Congratulations, doctor Stuart,thank you, thank you so much.
So doctor Stewart, tell us aboutwhat you do that got CNN's attention.
(00:25):
So I've been a vedinara now forhe's going on twenty six years. But
about halfway through my career, Ifound myself actually wanting to quit my own
profession. And there's a longer storybehind it, but I was a shelter
veterinarian at the time and it wasjust on a good time to be a
shelter at a municipality, no less, we had a high youth and Asia
(00:48):
eight. It was during the recession, and I felt like exiting, exiting
and just finding something else. Entirelydifferent is that, because it was just
so heartbreaking to see, Like yousaid, it was during the recession and
people were turning in pets and sothe shelters were probably flooded and overcrowded,
and so you have no choice atthat point, but then to euthanize them.
(01:11):
Right. It was the euthanasias thatwere getting to me, and they
were daily, and they were bythe dozens, and it was it just
started to kill a part of mysoul. And you know, when you're
little boy dreaming of being a vetone day, it's not what you envisioned.
So yeah, I was, youknow, looking back now, and
you don't really fully realize it orappreciate the time. I think I was
(01:33):
going through some depression doing the work, and how could you not when you're
seeing that daily. And yeah,I just happened to come across this unhoused
man and his dog, and throughsort of a random act of helping him
of kindness, I rediscovered why Ishould be in this profession that over the
years coffee attention of multiple people,but ultimately CNN okay, tell me about
(02:00):
the man and his dog. Well, he was sitting there outside of seven
eleven, sort of off to theside, and sometimes we'll see them panhandling.
I went in to get coffee,and as I came out, I
looked to my left and he wasthere crossing the corner with his dog.
And I, you know, regretably, i'd seen this guy before and I
had ignored him before, but onthis day, probably because I was in
(02:23):
my own funk. In fact,I was in my head just before I
went in. I was writing myletter of resignation, sort of sort of
crafting it in my head as Iwas getting my coffee. And so,
for whatever reason, I was inthis mental space and I took notice of
him and his dog. I steppedover. I could tell his dog had
a serious skin issue. It turnedout just to be fleezed. And for
anyone listening who may or may notown a dog, if a dog has
(02:44):
fleas long enough, it can completelydestroy the skin. And this dog looked
like a burn victim. The hairwas gone, the skin was red,
and Bumpy was infected. The dogis miserable. The man was miserable.
He was living with his dog andthe fleas as well. And I just
I leaned over. I introduced myself. I said, I'm a quand Steward,
I'm a veterinarian. If you're heretomorrow, I'll return with something that
(03:06):
should help. I did as promised. It was all of three dollars out
of my pockets. It was justa basic flea treatment. And I saw
the same dog about a week anda half later, and the dog was
just transformed, happy, the hairwas coming back, and the man sitting
in the same spot looking up atme, said, with tears in his
eyes, thank you for not ignoringme. And I just had this lightning
(03:30):
bolt of feeling. It was sorewarding, and it was so easy.
It took so little of my timeto just pull this dog out of suffering,
a dog that probably otherwise never wouldhave gotten help. Just the man
just didn't have resources, obviously,and I just told myself I'm going to
do more of this. And thatwas twelve years ago and I haven't stopped
since. Okay, so now whatdo you do, because now we know
(03:53):
that you are the street vent,so tell us about what you're out and
about doing. I packed a bagand supplies is pretty simple, and in
it are vaccines, at inflammatories,antibiotics. Tonyil trimmer is just a basic
kit. And I hit impoverised areasof the cities, mainly southern California where
(04:15):
I live. I live in SanDiego, but I go up to La
a lot at skid row, andI just walk through these encampments and I
look for people in pets. OurCensus tells us that about twenty percent of
our homeless own the pets. That'sbeen my observation as well. It's about
one out of five. And soif you just walk through these areas,
you're going to come across people inpets. And when I do, I
(04:35):
introduce myself just like I did aday at seven to eleven, and ask
them if I can help their dogin any way. Usually I say yes,
and I just get to work,and I can treat about eighty percent
of the dogs I see the casesI see out of that bag about eighty
percent, So I can do alot out of a pretty small bag.
For the other twenty percent, Ineed to get them into hospital care for
(04:59):
further care. It could be anaesthetic procedure to or move a tumor,
or extract a tooth or what haveyou. But we will and we cover
all the costs. And who yousay we cover the cost Who pays for
this? Well, my charity.It's a Project Street Vet and we officially
formed in twenty twenty. It's fiveon one and yeah, through that through
(05:20):
donations and and we have this isthe part of brows me Away. Yeah,
I know, we're a pet lovingnation, and we are. There
is something about pets and our connectionto them, and it just plays out
over and over. They're more popularthan they've ever been, this younger generation,
(05:41):
or replacing kids with pets. It'sjust it's a part of who we
are. And I just never imaginewhen I started this charity that people would
would be as generous as they are, and they are so giving, and
the whole mission runs entirely on donations. But people have been so generous and
(06:03):
we do. We have good resources. We're well resourced, and so I
never have to turn an animal away. If anim needs to go in for
a five thousand dollars procedure, thenwe can cover it. If it's something
lest we being covered, if it'sfollow up care, rechecks and so forth,
then we have the resources that takecare of these animals the way they
need to be cared for. That'sso amazing, doctor Stewart. And then
(06:24):
you've also taken it a step furtherby there's a new program you have where
you've launched a food pantry, butit's just for dogs. Yeah, I
know that was That was an ideaI've been sitting on for a while and
through the years of doing this onething, I realized that, yeah,
I'm giving free medical care, butI'm sort of neglecting the nutrition side.
(06:46):
And as we know more than ever, nutrition is important for total health.
It's an important component for total health. So and I will tell people that
just to dispel this myth. Thesedogs are for the most part, very
well cared for. It's rare thatI come across a skin email nourished dog,
a sickly dog. I see alot of the same conditions I see
(07:10):
in clinic, in hospital. It'sa lot of skin issues, ear infections,
flee in tick. That's what Californiais known for. And it's the
same out in the streets. Butyou know, these owners will sacrifice their
own meal for their dogs so thatthey have for a lot of them on
my bad, it's it's their familymember. Yeah, and they do everything
they can to keep their dog andas good health as they can. And
(07:33):
so but having said that, theystill, you know, they struggle to
get you know, things like foodfor their dog. A lot of good
Smaritans will drop off a bag andthey see someone on a corner with a
dog. There are other services willcome through the town the city and offload
you know, dog food from aflatbed truck, but it's haphazard, it's
(07:54):
not consistent. I said, thesedogs ultimately need they need consistent nutrition.
So what can I do? SoI just came up with idea. I'm
going to put a shed. It'sbasically just a closet. It's a dog
food shed, and anyone living inthat area on how it can com buy
any time. It's on the honorsystem and the food is free. They
just open it up and take whatthey need. That's amazing, so important
to take care of the babies,the little fur babies. So then tell
(08:18):
us, doctor Stewart, how'd youget see Ann's attention. I guess just
doing the work over over the years. I got nominated. And that's how
it works. If anybody can nominateanybody for doing this. So if you
know of somebody out there doing goodin the world, you can nominate them
for seeing it in hero And apparentlythey're over. I was told here at
the end they're over ten thousand nominationsand they whittled down. They just narrowed
(08:43):
the field, you know, moreand more over the course of six or
eight months, and there was avery intense vetting process along with it.
But I find myself in the topthirty, and then in the top thirty
you can actually call yourself a CMNhero and you can put it on your
resume. And then the top thirtygo to ten, and then they crowned
the Hero of the Year, andsomehow I was able to beat up and
(09:05):
beat up the field and win itall. Well, I think this is
probably one of the reasons Doctor Stewart, after you got word that you had
won, you immediately moved forward andsaid, I want to split this prize.
See you got me all choked up, doctor Stewart. I mean,
like, that's so big of you, because how big is It's like one
(09:26):
hundred thousand dollars right, yeah?Yeah, they winner got one hundred thousand
for their mission. And what doctorStewart did as he immediately said, I
want to split this between all ofthe top ten finalists. I did.
Yeah, that's time. It feltright in the moment. What people should
know is prior to the gala,a few days leading up to the gala,
I was hanging out the other nineon our ease, and we really
(09:48):
got to know each other and ourmissions, our sacrifices to the years.
I thought about my own ten twelveyear journey and some of them of fifteen
twenty years of doing what they've beendoing and reaching into their own pocket,
and I just I was I washonored to know them. And in that
moment, I just, you know, I've gotten here in part because I've
been willing to share, and Ithought so have they, and we should
(10:11):
all celebrate together. And I wouldn'tchange it. I think that's just a
testament to you. So, doctorStewart, what's next? More of this?
I guess I funny part of theearly early story when I, you
know, after the day I foundthat man outside of seven eleven, I
started doing the work very quietly,and by quietly, I almost mean secretly.
(10:33):
I didn't tell anybody for six yearswhat I was doing. I would
evenings or occasional weekends, and Ihad true time. I would just go
out and search these people and findtheir pets, treet through pets. It
was just a way for me toheal. Going back to the shelter days.
I didn't want to. It wasn'treally anything I wanted to talk about
or share. I didn't want tobe judged myself. I didn't want to
be in a group of people andhave someone say, why are you helping
(10:54):
them? They don't deserve help.I didn't want to hear it. I
just wanted to go out and doit. So that was the first six
years of the little Adventure, andthen it started to gain attention in favor
and I just never dreamed it wouldbe me walking sort of in the shadows
find these people. To now we'rein six cities. We just launched in
New York City, and so theplan is just to keep moving on,
(11:16):
to move on to the next bigcity, the next big city, and
I think if I can get intotwelve to fifteen of the largest cities in
the country, I will cover agood seventy five percent of our homeless population
and their pets. That's amazing.And doctor Stewart, you can't do it
on your own. So how canpeople donate? They can go to projects
Treatment dot org, and our websiteshares all the information they would need and
(11:41):
stories and content and updates and away to volunteer. And you know,
I'll just tell people sometimes it's messagesof support to myself and my team.
I volunteer my time to do thework. I still to this day.
My veterinarians, my technicians, myassistants who come on board, who volunteer
across the country, who reach outto me, They they give their time
(12:01):
freely and willingly. And yeah,just the comments, the warm comments we
get on Instagram or on the website, those two are nice. There you
have at cann Hero of the Year, and after just a short conversation with
you, we can certainly see whyI appreciate it. Thank you so much,
Wake Up Call with Amy King News
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