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Dr. V | Friday | January 13, 2012 |
We tend to take for granted all the medicine we have at our fingertips for our pets- ultrasounds, MRIs, surgeons with insane specialties. It’s easy to forget sometimes the conditions most of the rest of the world functions in. It’s one of the reasons I am in such awe of organizations like World Vets, which sends vets all over the world to not only help animals, but help the vets in other countries learn cutting edge skills.
Running a multi-national nonprofit like this presents challenges you never would think about until you actually get into it: you can’t just show up in a place, do a few fancy surgeries, and take off without taking into account the people that are already there who might resent your intrusion if not done properly. In the case of World Vets, training is a core part of the program: not only for the veterinary students who volunteer in order to acquire more skill, but for the local veterinarians who take an active role in the projects, get trained themselves, and can use those skills year-round to improve the life of the animals who live there. From their January press release:
This year, World Vets officially opened its first year-round International Training Center. Located in Granada, Nicaragua, the Latin America Veterinary Training Center will train over 500 Latin American veterinarians in 2012. In addition to Latin American veterinarians, the training center will also see 160 U.S. veterinary students this summer as part of the International Veterinary Medicine program offered by World Vets.
But what does this mean, really? It means when a pet is injured in a manner a veterinarian is uncomfortable treating, they have a good relationship with a mentor vet they can call for help, and everyone benefits. Take, for example, Princessa. (more…)
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Dr. V | Sunday | November 20, 2011 |
It’s a week of being thankful, and in that vein I’m reaching back into something I used to do regularly and make a Sunday post highlighting something great from around the web. Today, two large scale projects meant to bring more shelter pets into their forever homes:
Home for the Holidays
Iams’ Home for the Holidays program has just surpassed the 6 million mark for number of pets who have been adopted since the program’s inception in 1999. Way to go! They’re still working on their goal of 5 million bowls of food donated, as well.
2011 Results to date:
Since October 1st, we have helped find new loving homes for:
- Total adoptions so far: 413,903
- Total meals donated so far: 1,525,920
The Shelter Pet Project
Speaking of adoption, the Shelter Pet Project has just released a new set of Public Service Announcements in a joint project with the Ad Council, HSUS and Maddie’s Fund.
The PSA message is “A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet.” Truer words were never spoken!
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Dr. V | Friday | October 14, 2011 |
Remember those “Like Mike” commercials with Michael Jordan? They were cute enough, I suppose, but the idolatry of sports figures never really went over well in my head. Every time I saw that commercial or one like it, I would scratch my head, think about all the people I knew who had done so many more extraordinary things, and wonder how come he gets to be the hero of so many hearts.
Now that I have kids, it’s even worse. I want them to admire innovators, humanitarians, advocates; scholars and teachers, pioneers and great thinkers. Athletes and celebrities have their place in the world, sure, but if my daughter’s dream growing up is to be just like iCarly, then I screwed up.
I was honored and touched when a different Mike, my friend Mike Arms from the Helen Woodward Animal Center, asked if I would come to the Red Cross Real Heroes Awards Breakfast yesterday at the USS Midway here in San Diego. As the Animal Welfare Honoree, Mike was one of 10 local heroes being recognized.
Joining him as honorees were other amazing San Diegans from all walks of life, such as Dr. Nick Yphantides, a physician who lost 200 pounds on a cross country trek promoting health; Sandy Lehmkuhler, founder of the Freedom Station transitional housing facility for injured military personnel; firefighters Robert Laatsch and Jym Bridger, who provide bicycle helmets for children, and Staff Sergeant Erik Sims, a member of the armed services who has overcome traumatic brain injuries to devote his life to helping others around the world. You can read about them all here. (more…)
