The rewards of forming a non-profit

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.

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