Tina's Hospital

Where, when and how much?

When I was filling in Tina’s grave I had tears in my eyes but I got the manual work done and after a step back took a long deep breath.

My good friend Sybille had been with me at the end and she bowed her head instinctively knowing that it was a time to say nothing.

I just shouted into the air at nobody in particular “Your life won’t be in vain, I’ll do something amazing in your name”.

That something is going to be “Tinas Hospital For Dogs Who Aren’t Doing So Good”.

I’ve been very surprised at how taken people have been with the idea so I wanted to share what my thinking is…

Timeline For The Build

I’m always stupidly optimistic for these things. Initially I was thinking 3 months then convinced myself 6 might be more realistic. In reality I’ve talked myself down and am now saying it will take a year. Just under it. We’ll have it finished on the 18th August 2024. One year after Tina died. We’ll open it at 4.45pm the exact time she passed.

The things that will take time and that I can’t speed up include…

• Building permissions

• Licenses and legals

• World class staff

• A charter and operational procedures. (who gets treated? how to deal with long term stays, how to manage free care etc)

My own computer screen saver is the photo below of Tina the day she arrived broken with her bones showing versus her looking fabulous. Every time I see that It drives me on. The hospital will be a place to welcome in dogs like Tina the day she arrived.

That transformation took many months. Good things take time and patience.

Funding The Hospital

The research for this has started. I am obviously not a vet nor have I ever built a hospital before. What I have started to assemble are a bunch of people who know about this sort of stuff. What I have in my head as a guideline for them are some pretty big numbers…

• Initial build budget of $500,000 to $1,000,000.

• Running costs of $20,000 to $50,000 per month

While those are big scary numbers I think if something is worth doing it is worth doing right. Especially something in Tina’s name.

Funding Sources…

I haven’t got around to planning this in full yet but my ideas so far are…

1. The book is selling well. I will have the final revenue numbers on this at the end of the year. As I said every penny I earn from it will be used. I’m hopeful It might get close to 6 figures over the next year.

2. I am going to have an amazing Tina T-Shirt. It will cost $60. Roughly $20 to produce and ship so there will be $40 profit. My idea is to sell 10,000 of these and that would bring in $400,000. Ambitious and tricky to execute but I think people would support the cause. A limited edition Tina T-Shirt that helps build a hospital.

3. Lots of people want to get involved with fundraising to make this happen. I’ve said to just wait for now as I need the plan and detailed costs etc. When the time is right I’ll get everybody involved in a community way with an overall total needed.

4. Individuals or companies. Once I get the full list of everything we need I think people might be interested in sponsoring parts of it. A testing machine. Some equipment. Computers. Whatever we need I’ll make a wish list of and people could have them named after them.

I want to design the funding so as it is community focused so as it feels like the hospital was built not by me but by dog lovers all over the world. Obviously the hospital will be for street dogs and will not be focused on making money.

The Hospital Is Already Effectively In Operation Without A Home

Tina’s hospital will be a wonderful physical place to centre everything on but the reality is that work helping dogs is already happening…

• In September we will fund the sterilising of 300+ Dogs. Those are in 3 locations

• There are sick puppies and multiple dogs in the vets for a week as I write this

• We spend $2000-5000 a month on operations like fixing little Tommy’s leg, getting Stitch to walk again and giving Essi a 2nd chance with a life saving amputation.

The amount of dogs I can help at the moment is limited by costs, vet space, transport and a lack of some machines on the island. The hospital will fix all that.

Moving From Distraction To Pure Focus

Since Tina and Snoop died I have been exceptionally busy with dogs, the book, travel and bigger picture admin work. I think I subconsciously did that to keep myself distracted in a time I knew would be very painful. What has happened since the dogs passed has been the most powerful motivation ever…

• I’ve met 1000s of people who have told me of the importance of the mission. Hearing it first hand has been incredible to help me grasp the impact.

• I’ve seen many of the dogs that we have re-homed in the UK and Thailand. Thats had a huge impact on me to do more.

• People have given me heartfelt letters, gifts and personal pieces to use at Tina’s hospital. Nothing expensive but the sort of things money can’t buy.

It’s been lovely and a wonderful motivational distraction but everybody knows my heart is on the ground with the dogs. I’ll be happy when I’m there helping more sick dogs and looking at concrete being poured for the hospital ASAP.

I love and feel all the support. There is now a very clear and tangible goal and I cannot waste this opportunity to do something incredible by building Tina’s hospital. Even though I’ve been tired recently I lay in bed visualising the entrance and all the lovely art work and children’s drawings on the walls and sick dogs checking in and out with a hive of activity and positivity in the building. It will be a very special place.

It won’t be easy but I’ll get it done!

Big Love

Niall

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