All-American Pet Resorts in Royal Oak take care of dogs owned by front line COVID-19 workers

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (FOX 2) - It's playtime all the time at All-American Pet Resorts in Royal Oak.  

These lucky dogs know nothing of COVID-19 but many of their owners are on the frontlines at nearby Beaumont Hospital facing life and death situations every day.

Mary Marko is a physician assistant at Beaumont Hospital who was re-assigned to the COVID-19 floors.

"My shifts changed and my hours changed and my days off changed," she said.

Which meant her dog Maddie - and the pets belonging to so many doctors and nurses and other frontline workers, needed someone to care for them.

"These are longtime clients of ours working long hours - very dangerous conditions - it was an easy decision to support our clients," said Stephan Dimitroff.

Dimitroff says their four other metro Detroit locations closed down during the pandemic, but not the Royal Oak location because there were too many hospital workers with furry family members, who needed them to stay open.

"Without the services provided here they wouldn’t have been able to go into work," he said.

And we need those healthcare workers now more than ever. They are not only helping out the doctors and nurses on the frontlines - but also other first responders as well.

"We've also offered complimentary services to local law enforcement and their k-9s as well as actively deployed military personnel during the shelter in place," Dimitroff said.

It's meant making changes adhering to CDC guidelines, social distancing, curbside drop off and pick up - but - they say - it's their turn to take care of those people - taking care of us.

"Without having them to take Maddie to - I don't know what I would have done," Marko said.

"We wanted to make sure that we met the needs of our clients - longtime clients - as well as give back to our community," Dimitroff said. “Like they're doing for us right now."

Go to the All-American Pet Resorts Facebook page here to learn more.