Summer/Fall 2013 PDF - University of Minnesota College of ...
Summer/Fall 2013 PDF - University of Minnesota College of ...
Summer/Fall 2013 PDF - University of Minnesota College of ...
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COMMUNITY SERVICE<br />
deworming, and animal care education,<br />
in reservation communities in <strong>Minnesota</strong>.<br />
Their first clinic in 2009 served 74 patients<br />
on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern<br />
<strong>Minnesota</strong>. Now, the organization’s<br />
100 student members—approximately<br />
one-third <strong>of</strong> the veterinary student<br />
population—team up with volunteer<br />
veterinarians and veterinary technicians<br />
to host three clinics each year on the<br />
Leech Lake and White Earth reservations.<br />
Because the reservations are so large, they<br />
visit different communities each time,<br />
trying to reach the more remote areas that<br />
have fewer services.<br />
Assisted by a student, right, Dr. Arlo Frost volunteers his time to conduct surgery at a SIRVS clinic in a<br />
gym on the White Earth Indian Reservation. Frost is a CVM alumnus who practices at Silver Lake Animal<br />
Hospital in Oakdale, <strong>Minnesota</strong>. His son, veterinary student Brendan Frost, is the incoming president <strong>of</strong><br />
SIRVS.<br />
Expanding veterinary<br />
medicine’s reach with<br />
SIRVS<br />
Spring break: It invokes colorful<br />
images <strong>of</strong> students partying in<br />
bikinis on sunny beaches, without a<br />
care in the world.<br />
But this year, veterinary student<br />
Elizabeth Parks and fellow members <strong>of</strong><br />
the Student Initiative for Reservation<br />
Veterinary Services (SIRVS) had other<br />
plans. Bundled in parkas, boots, hats, and<br />
mittens, they set <strong>of</strong>f in a van on a 245-mile<br />
drive north through a <strong>Minnesota</strong> blizzard.<br />
They journeyed past Little <strong>Fall</strong>s and<br />
Detroit Lakes to the White Earth Indian<br />
Reservation and out County Road 4 to the<br />
Naytahwaush Sports Facility. Along with<br />
about 24 other students, four veterinarians,<br />
and two veterinary technicians, they set up<br />
a makeshift clinic on the basketball court,<br />
where they would work, eat, and sleep for<br />
four days.<br />
And they loved every minute <strong>of</strong> it.<br />
Bringing veterinary care to<br />
underserved communities<br />
SIRVS is a group <strong>of</strong> veterinary<br />
students with a mission: to train future<br />
veterinarians by serving communities in<br />
need, <strong>of</strong>fering clinics to provide veterinary<br />
services, including surgery, vaccinations,<br />
Clinics generally last four days and <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
physical exams, vaccinations, internal<br />
and external parasite treatment, testing for<br />
heartworm, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, and<br />
Lyme disesase, spay and neuter surgeries,<br />
and client education. Spay and neuter<br />
surgeries and emergency procedures are<br />
limited to the first three days to ensure that<br />
the veterinary team will be around for at<br />
least another day to monitor the patients.<br />
Because some locations especially need<br />
rabies vaccines, SIRVS sometimes <strong>of</strong>fers a<br />
rabies vaccine-only station. The fourth day<br />
is mostly devoted to wellness exams and<br />
follow-up care.<br />
Clients are usually waiting outside the<br />
door with their pets by 6 a.m., and the<br />
clinic runs from about 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.,<br />
sometimes longer. At the end <strong>of</strong> each day,<br />
the group meets as a team to talk about<br />
what went well and what they can improve<br />
on the next day.<br />
STUDENT PROFILE<br />
Elizabeth Parks<br />
CLASS: 2014<br />
HOMETOWN: Pasadena, California<br />
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS:<br />
president, Student Initiative for<br />
Reservation Veterinary Service<br />
PROFESSIONAL GOALS: a one- to<br />
two-year mentorship in small<br />
animal practice; a career in<br />
small animal public health and<br />
preventive medicine<br />
10 Pr<strong>of</strong>iles <strong>Summer</strong>/<strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2013</strong>