Visitors will see how medics are harnessing the canine sense of smell to change lives.
BETA International is delighted to announce that its chosen charity for 2024 will be Medical Detection Dogs, a charity that’s close to the hearts of many members of the equestrian community.
Medical Detection Dogs started in 2008, utilising a dog’s incredible sense of smell to help support humans, whether this is in detecting cancer, neurological diseases, specific bacteria, and even malaria; or supporting people with complex medical conditions such as Type 1 diabetes, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS), Addison’s Disease and more.
Working with the Bio Detection Dogs in this way is hoped to improve the speed of diagnosis for diseases, and Medical Alert Assistance Dogs continue to support people all over the country with life threatening conditions, helping to them lead more normal lives, saving lives, and also preventing many hospitalisations. The work done by the charity is ground-breaking and extensive, and BETA International is delighted to be able to provide a platform to showcase this at the 2024 event.
“We are so excited to welcome Medical Detection Dogs to BETA International,” said Claire Williams from BETA International. “The charity was suggested to us by various members of the committee and when we started to research them in greater detail, we were in awe of what the charity is doing and how life changing this is. We have many pet retailers visit BETA International each year, lots of equestrian retailers stocking pet products, and there’s a real affinity between horses and dogs which is well known. We have lots of exciting and interactive activities planned at the show with Medical Detection Dogs, and we can’t wait to learn more and meet some of these four-legged lifesavers during the event too.”
“As we celebrate our 15th birthday and our founder, Dr Claire Guest’s recent OBE, we have great ambition to take our work to the next level, transitioning our world leading proof of concept work in the Bio Detection sphere, to practical deployment with significant positive societal impacts,” said Ruth Lister from Medical Detection Dogs.
“To do this we require transformational funding and to achieve that, we need significant exposure to the right audiences with opportunities to share our story and secure their support. Having such a high-profile opportunity as Charity of the Year partnerships with organisations such as BETA International is key to this, and we’re all delighted to have been chosen. Both organisations share common interests and values, with none of us untouched by the conditions our dogs can diagnose or support, Cancer, Parkinson’s, Diabetes, PoTS, Non-Epileptic Seizures – the list goes on. I am sure this will be hugely beneficial to our charity and add value to the BETA International programme over the two days.”
BETA International will be held at NAEC Stoneleigh from 22nd-23rd September 2024. You can find out more about BETA International and register to visit at www.beta-int.com. To find out more about Medical Detection Dogs, see www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk.
