Smithcors Veterinary History Essay Contest

Calling all history buffs!

This contest is for students interested in researching topics relating to the history of veterinary medicine. There are scholarships available for those essayists placing 1st through 4th. Students wishing to enter can find everything they need (guidelines, entry forms, etc) on the website. Submissions are due April 15th, 2020.

Photo obtained from the "History of the AAVMC" on the AAVMC website

First Mate Flint, Hedgehog Pirate

These adorable photos of Flint were submitted by his owner, Jaclyn Melvin from Cornell University.

Covered in spines but always willing to cuddle!All smiles in his favorite pirate hat hideawayFlint the Hedgehog - Professional Pirate & Amateur Model

Into the Wild

These photos were taken and submitted by Priya Allen from North Carolina State University!

Sheltering TreeEndangered Friends

Nightfall

Underserved Areas Grant Winner! (Part 2)

By Regina Doss, The Ohio State University

Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) sends groups all over the world to provide services to underserved populations. This past March, I traveled to three remote villages in rural Alaska with a group of veterinarians and veterinary students through CVM. Our group traveled to four village’s total, but we had split up for the last two.

Our mission was to provide basic veterinary care including distemper and rabies vaccinations, dewormer, and spays/neuters to the communities who otherwise have no available access to veterinary care. We carried over 1000 pounds worth of supplies with us, including vaccines, medications, spay/neuter supplies, an autoclave, activities for the village children, and food. Part of our goal is to help reduce the number of unwanted pets in these areas. Because there are no veterinarians, the villages rely on groups such as CVM and Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach to spay and neuter their dogs. The overpopulation of these animals has led to public health and safety issues. The villagers don’t have the resources to take care of all the puppies so they have to get rid of them on their own. This takes a huge emotional toll on them and they were so relieved that they were able to get their dogs spayed.

Another reason they are trying to decrease the population is due to dog bites. The children are not taught how to properly approach a dog and even a lot of the adults didn’t handle the animals well. They do not know the warning signs that dogs give and the majority of kids had admitted to being bitten before. A big part of this trip was educating people, mainly the kids, on how to recognize warning signs from dogs and how to approach them in a way that will reduce the risk of getting bitten. The kids were so excited and eager to help us, so it was easy to incorporate education as we were taking care of their animals. We also went to the local school in each village to present to the classes about dog bite prevention, rabies, and careers in veterinary medicine. We acted out bad vs good ways to approach an animals and taught them about what rabies is and how it’s spread. These villages have had many recent cases of rabies, in both foxes and dogs.

It was also great to share information on the veterinary profession. Most of the high schoolers stay in their villages instead of going off to college, or they leave for college, but dropout to go home. These communities are very isolated and they’re not exposed to the opportunities outside of their villages. We were able to discuss the programs offered and how they could come back home and help their community with their problems as a veterinarian. Mental health and drugs are big issues in these areas. We heard many stories of suicide attempts and addiction and there didn’t seem to be a lot of hope. Being able to reach the lives of the youth and show them that there are many opportunities for them helped give them motivation to seek these out.

These rural communities live in isolation and don’t have access to resources through which they can learn about diseases, nutrition, and proper equipment such as dog houses, leashes, and collars. The CVM and Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach groups have built relationships with the villages over the years. They have earned their trust by coming in and showing them how veterinary care can help their animals and the health and safety of their communities. It was amazing to see the excitement of the villagers when we arrived. Many of them knew why we were there and they spread the word to their friends, family, and neighbors. The ones who didn’t know were open to learning about our mission and how we could help their animals. My trip leader said it has been difficult earning their trust. These villages have had bad experiences in the past with groups coming in trying to help but end up doing more harm.

I learned so much on this trip and hope to travel back in order to continue to help. I hope that the resources become more readily available and that these villages continue to learn and receive support. This trip wasn’t easy. We took many flights, carried endless bags of supplies, slept on local jail floors, and at one point the veterinarian was doing surgery with a head lamp because there was no electricity. It is difficult to get to underserved areas, but it is so important to recognize that animals everywhere deserve appropriate and humane care and that we need to advocate for these people and their pets.

Underserved Areas Grant Winner! (Part 1)

Check out the reflection piece below of one of the two of the winners from the Public Health and Community Outreach Committee's Underserved Areas Grant! The other selected piece will be featured tomorrow!

By Trey Cook, NCSU:

I had the privilege and the honor of journeying to Limuru, a small town outside of Nairobi, Kenya, over spring break in March this year. Those eight days in country turned out to be one of the most amazing highlights of second year and presumably, my time as a vet student. Along with several of my NC State peers and under the leadership of seasoned bovine veterinarian and mentor, Dr. Sam Galphin, I experienced a culture, worked with some beautiful animals, and left behind a gift that will continue to impact the community long after our return home.

But first, who did we go to support? I recently developed a relationship with a small Christian organization called Freedom Global based out of Durham, NC. Their mission is to impact the world through education, employment, and discipleship. They have a merit-based boarding high school for girls, Uhuru Academy, in Limuru which is the main focus of all their operations. Many of the 64 girls at the school would otherwise not have access to a high school education due to inadequate family finances, difficult family situations for many of them, or simply lack of proximity. Freedom Global works to find sponsors for many of the students and is consistently putting these girls in very competitive positions to receive government funding for college education. Freedom Global started a dairy farm about three years ago in an attempt to build a more sustainable local source of income for Uhuru Academy. They choose to employ workers who are part of yet another growing underserved population in Kenya, the internally displaced refugee.

Our mission was to assess the Freedom Global farm, consult with leadership, provide training for the staff, and involve the Uhuru Academy girls at every opportunity. The first several days were spent observing, analyzing, note taking, and relationship-building. We had priceless opportunities to work alongside the milkers, getting to know them and their beloved cows (who answered to their names when called in for milking). We studied feeding and watering habits, milking protocol, movement and organization of the animals, and delved into the idiosyncrasies of the farm. Our veterinary group separated into various teams, each focusing on various aspects of the dairy operation (milking, nutrition, housing, etc.). I led the nutrition team, a discipline I am immensely interested in yet find quite challenging. We were able to take some of Dr. Galphin’s feed analysis and translate them into multiple grain total mixed rations (TMRs) implementing measuring methods used on the farm (aka a sawed-off carton for a scoop). We left them with recipes (in bags and scoops) for mixing their own TMRs for the various groups of cows as well as instructions on how many “scoops” to give cows milking at various levels.

We pregnancy checked their cows to establish a baseline, set up several of the open cows for artificial insemination later in the week, then inseminated about 10 by the end of the week. We performed California Mastitis Tests, Brucella and Tuberculosis testing, analysis of feed rations, and even a castration on an unlucky bull. A local Kenyan veterinarian was on hand for much of our work which legitimized our tests while giving us the opportunity to learn a bit about life as a vet in Kenya. He is hoping to start a dairy operation upon his impending retirement, so he enjoyed learning throughout the week with the Freedom Global staff.

Each night, we gathered as a team, traded notes, and discussed suggestions to be made and how to go about making said suggestions in culturally appropriate and relevant ways. We were constantly adding to various Standard Operating Procedures to leave with the farm as well as material for the training we performed at week’s end. It was exciting to see how eager the staff was to improve their skills and procedures and how quickly things moved as we made small suggestions along the way.

Our big training day was immensely rewarding for each of us. It represented the culmination of several 10-14 hour days and some late nights of group work, and the workers jumped on board with our many but usually minor suggestions (for example, splitting grain feedings into morning and evening rather than all at once).

Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of the process was our ability to involve many of the girls from the school. Early in the week, we were able to speak to all of them at the school and explain who we were and why we were there. On several evenings, a few girls joined us for dinner which allowed us to delve more deeply into their dreams and share our passion for veterinary medicine on a more personal level. Then mid-week, about 18 of them participating in  the agriculture course offered at the school came out to visit us at the farm. We gave them a tour and each of our teams walked the girls through the various challenges they observed and communicated the solutions they found. All of us were able to share lunch in the grass afterwards and speak more specifically about veterinary medicine, the importance of involvement in agriculture, and answer questions. The girls are dreaming big! It was such a joy to witness the hope the girls displayed flowing from their relationship with Jesus and the life-altering educational opportunity the academy is providing them.

I am happy to report that the Freedom Global cows had their highest month of milking since the start of the farm in May, and it seems that much of our training and many of our adjustments have taken hold. I will definitely continue my relationship with Freedom Global, and I hope to return to the farm in Limuru as well. They are making huge strides but will continue to transition as they begin to learn about raising their own replacements and finding ways to improve the genetics in their herd. This trip had a massive impact on me, inspiring me with fresh vision for how my skills might be used to positively impact the underserved both in my own country and on other continents. Thank you for the opportunity to share this phenomenal experience with you.