This edition's Life as a Vet Student topic:
'Each day the veterinary profession becomes less national and more global. The AVMA states, "In recent years the AVMA has turned to the global stage to advance its strategic goals, particularly in the areas of animal welfare and veterinary education, and has worked hard to ensure that the U.S. veterinary profession's voice is heard in international settings."
Are you interested in global health? How have you contributed or plan to contribute in international veterinary medicine?'
Winner, Life as a Vet Student Category
David Kim, UC Davis
As I walked along the dirt road, telling people in my broken Spanish that International Veterinary Outreach (IVO) was having a free animal clinic today at the local community center, I thought about my last experience here. This past December, we arrived in Jiquilillo and Padre Ramos, two rural fishing villages on the northwest coast of Nicaragua for our first trip to provide free veterinary care, and we had now returned during the summer. As I told the natives about our clinic, I saw a bemused look on many faces, and I knew what I looked like, a chinito gringo trying to speak their tongue. But I didn’t care. It felt good to be back.
I could write all about the communities visited, the animals seen, the surgeries and treatments performed, the number of Toña beers imbibed, but I think the excitement and opportunity to do international field medicine often overlooks the brunt of the work of making a trip like this even happen. So what kind of work goes into making a project like this succeed?
When my friends and I first got together to brainstorm for our group, we quickly realized the limitations of being a school club because of the Healthcare Vendor Policy (HVP) and decided to take on the arduous process of becoming a 501(c)(3). As you can imagine, it was a lot of paperwork. After numerous redrafts and advice from lawyers, we finally sent our application to the IRS last spring and had to wait months for it to be approved.
Next, we had to form groups to plan various aspects of the trip from logistics to outreach and education. Logistics handled recruiting veterinarians and RVTS, making contacts in Nicaragua, planning our stay and schedule there, and getting permits. Budget and inventory worked hand in hand to figure out what we needed to buy in the US and in Nicaragua, what we had left from our last trip, where to order supplies and get donations, and how much it would all cost. Fundraising was a huge obstacle for us.
Even though we were outside of the HVP, we had a lot of difficulty getting donations from drug companies and other businesses because IVO was not a 501(c)(3) yet, and we ran into this problem again when trying to apply for grants. With these restrictions, it was an obscene amount of work to try and raise money for a 10 day clinic, but somehow we managed to make just enough to buy all the drugs and supplies we needed.
During my first year, I went with a third party group that did similar “spaycations” to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The trip cost was at least twice as much as going with IVO (students have to pay for their own personal expenses on IVO trips ie flight, room, and board). After planning a few trips now, I realize at least in part why there’s such a big price difference, and that’s because IVO is completely student run, which effectively eliminates the middle man. Factor in that everyone is a full time vet student with other time commitments, and things start to get a little crazy. Luckily, we had a lot of outside help along the way, especially from our mentor Dr. Eric Davis, and our second trip was a success with almost 300 animals seen in the five communities we visited.
Since our summer trip, our group just returned from its third visit this past December, visiting more new places, collecting data from owners and animals, and focusing a lot more on owner education. After adding up our numbers from the winter, we’ve noticed a continual rise in spays and neuters, and while it’s encouraging to see this increase, I know it will be a long time before we actually see the impression we’ll be making on these communities. It’s been a steep learning curve as we realize what works and doesn’t, but it’s been a lot of fun along the way as we continue to make adjustments to improve the group. And as much as I love working in the field, IVO is more than just an opportunity to be able to practice medicine. It’s about creating a sustainable and affordable program for veterinary students to make a long lasting impact on these rural Nicaraguan villages. With our recent attainment of 501(c)(3) status, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride over what my friends and I have accomplished over the past year and a half, and I look forward to the growth of our project in the years to come.
Friday, February 15, 2013 at 03:00PM