World Vets

>World Vets has about a dozen project leaders who provide leadership for our international projects. Dr Mike Corcoran, an emergency and critical care veterinarian from Vancouver, Washington is one of them. I first met Mike several years ago when I was giving a lecture to the International Veterinary Medicine class at Washington State University. After my talk, Mike came up and introduced himself and offered his help if there was ever an opportunity for him to be involved with World Vets. If I recall correctly, he was a sophomore in veterinary school at the time. Little did he know that one day he would be one of our project leaders coordinating projects and leading veterinary teams to the far reaches of the globe. Most recently, he led a group to Loreto Mexico and later this year he will be taking a group to Ibarra, Ecuador for the first of a series of spay neuter projects in that area. As I write this blog, Mike is in Fiji (a rough life it must be!) on vacation. As it turns out, we had received a spay/neuter project request a couple months ago from the Fiji SPCA. I sent Mike on a mission, while he was vacationing, to meet up with the group and see how we could help. I don’t have all the details yet, but it sounds like we will be sending teams to Fiji within the next year. Thanks, Mike, for all you do for World Vets. As the years go by, I hope I will have many more stories like Mike’s, of students involved in our program who later go on to be project leaders when they graduate. It’s the great people we meet along the way who make World Vets what it is today.

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It seems like there is always some excitement on the main cobblestone street of Granada, Nicaragua. When I was there a couple months ago, there were hundreds of stallions parading down the street during Hipica, a local Nicaraguan tradition. Our newest World Vets arrived yesterday and found themselves in the midst of Granada’s version of the Running of the Bulls which culminates with a rodeo rather than a bullfight, from what I understand. So instead of a relaxing day touring the city, the team had an experience they will not soon forget dodging bulls and people in the heart of this historic Spanish Colonial city. Luckily everyone survived unscathed and managed to get the supplies and equipment set up for toady’s early morning start at the clinic. I suspected they were greeted with a long line of surgery patients waiting for them at Casa Lupita. Go team!

The Running of the Bulls in Granada, Nicaragua

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Santa Fe, New Mexico veterinarian Dr Tom Parker in Granada, Nicaragua (above and below pics)

Its only been a couple days since Team Panama returned home and we already have another team headed for Central America. Early this morning, eleven World Vets volunteers headed for the airport en route to Granada Nicaragua. We had a team in Granada just a few months ago doing a spay/neuter clinic as well as working on horses. We had a huge turnout at both clinics and in the end had to turn away some of the small animal patients as we had run out of time and supplies with such an overwhelming response from the local community. Our Granada project, like most of our programs, strives to be sustainable by providing ongoing support. In keeping with that mission, another team is on the way! This time the team is lead by Susan Paseman and Dr Tom Parker. Susan is the vice-president of World Vets and has travelled with many teams to Central America. Tom Parker is a veterinarian from Santa Fe, New Mexico who I met earlier this year. Tom contacted World Vets about the possibility of starting some programs in Nicaragua (where we previously had not worked). Well, that was just 8 months ago and we have already been there four different times doing veterinary projects and have plans for regular continued support. During the Granada trip, we will be working at Casa Lupita, a clinic run by Donna Tabor of Building New Hope. Dr Tom has worked extensively with Casa Lupita and has managed to fully outfit the clinic with equipment and supplies, one suitcase load at a time. Tom is one of the hardest-working, most dedicated people I know and is an all around great guy! Dr Tom will oversee the veterinary work on the Granada project. We wish the team good luck this week and will keep you posted on their progress.

Susan Paseman, project leader and Vice-President of World Vets, working during our last Granada project in May 2009.

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