Restoring Animal Health In Afghanistan: David Sherman, DVMOctober 28, 2009 By late morning, when David Sherman, DVM, arrived at the veterinary field office in a remote part of Afghanistan, a crowd was waiting. At least 20 farmers had come from the surrounding countryside to see the paraveterinarian, a specially trained Afghan who had been set up in a spartan but modern clinic by the group Dr. Sherman works for. The farmers quickly organized. Soon, working together, they’d mapped out a schedule based on who needed a farm visit to have an animal vaccinated or diagnosed, or who could be sent away with medicine—a crucial plan, since this paraveterinarian was the only source of veterinary help for miles in any direction. Sherman was delighted: Here was proof that the multi-national effort he worked with to restore veterinary services to Afghanistan was succeeding. “This is an agrarian culture that depends on livestock for its existence,” says Sherman, a Massachusetts veterinarian who is an international expert on goat health. As much as 70 percent of the Afghan population earns a living from animals, at least in part. But by the early part of this decade, years of war, the 1994 Taliban takeover and the …
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Filling A Critical Need: Pet AmbulancesOctober 28, 2009 Annie Davis' PT Cruiser is no ordinary automobile. Upholstered with heating pads in the lining and equipped with an oxygen system and technology for fluid and airway control, it serves as one of two pet ambulances at VetCab, Davis' emergency pet transfer service in Yucaipa, Calif. These souped-up automobiles can't drive in Code 3 mode-which entails flashing red lights, sirens and often high speeds-but they can save the life of a pet whose life may be dependent on just a few critical minutes. Unlike most mobile clinics, pet ambulances are usually available on a 24-hour basis, and unlike most 24-hour clinics, they're willing and able to travel. And while the ambulances may also function as pet taxis, it's the emergency situations that inspire the creation of these businesses. Seeing the need, Davis, owner and creator of VetCab, opened her business in September 2005. After working as a technician at an emergency clinic, she noticed that the current system of pet transportation via the pet owners didn't always work. A.M.E.R.S. Animal Ambulance's fleet of emergency vehicles lined up in San Leandro, Calif. "I recognized the need because I saw [the pets] coming in …
Sons Rise To The Challenge: Drs. Jacob And Nick MathiasOctober 28, 2009 Dr. James Mathias, DVM, welcomed two new veterinarians into his 27-year-old practice a little more than a year ago. That’s hardly extraordinary, considering that Mathias was eager to build his staff and free up time to pursue other projects. But the new doctors weren’t just any new grads from his alma mater, Ohio State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. They were Drs. Jacob and Nick Mathias, twin brothers and Mathias’ sons. Can there be too much family under one shingle? Maybe for some, but not for them, the family members say. After years of homeschooling and playing countless pickup basketball games and tennis matches together, the doctors say working together seemed like a natural move. “We’re a very, very close family,” says James, 55. “It’s wonderful.” The brothers, 26, agree. “This past year has been great. I’ve been learning a ton. I don’t think I’d change a thing,” Jacob says. “I couldn’t think of a better mentor than my dad.” Besides, adds Nick, “It’s fun.” Proving Skeptics Wrong Many friends advised against such a venture and were skeptical that family members could practice together. Some schoolmates who’d …
Like Daughter, Like Mother: Sharon And Angelina GerardoOctober 28, 2009 Blame it on rain, ice and snow. Sharon Hunt Gerardo was days away from accepting an offer to enroll in Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, her impending announcement doubling the excitement level at the family’s Easter gathering. Daughter Angelina also was heading to veterinary school. Angelina planned to stay in her home state and attend the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, on an Army scholarship. Everyone loved the novelty of mother and daughter venturing into veterinary medicine and appreciated that it was a legacy of Michael Gerardo, DVM, Sharon’s late husband and Angelina’s father, who died in 2000. Then Sharon, curious, hit the weather websites to get a glimmer of what she might see during a typical school year in Massachusetts. Rain. Snow. Ice. More rain. Oh, dear. “You grow up in Southern California like me and you face those harsh winters, and you think, ‘Oh, just suck it up.’ But then I really thought about it and I knew I couldn’t do it,” Sharon recalls. So, like her daughter, Sharon chose Davis. Mom and daughter fretted a bit about being classmates, but …
Have Clinic, Will Travel: Kathy King, DVM, Ph.D.October 28, 2009 Give Cathy King two hours and she can turn a Third World outpost into a bustling hub of surgical precision. Just stand back as she lays out four duffle bags full of surgery packs, stethoscopes, headlamps, catheters, anesthetics, antibiotics and, for special occasions, Beanie Babies. As director of the nonprofit outreach organization World Vets, King, DVM, Ph.D., is an unassuming leader of a quiet revolution, one that exports free veterinary care and safe pet population control to pockets of the world where such services are needed most. Eight years ago, when the idea to combine adventure travel with volunteer clinic work first gave rise to World Vets, Dr. King never anticipated that her trips would become so broadly popular or that she would become so widely traveled. Dogs await their surgeries in Loreto, Mexico. “If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said there was no way we would be making a trip a month,” says King, who owns a small-animal practice, Hometown Animal Hospital, in Deer Park, Wash. “I hoped World Vets would grow, but I didn’t anticipate so much interest so fast. A lot of people have requested …
Going Nuts Over Boltz: Rachel Boltz, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Lisa Lotti was distraught. Her be-loved boxer, Barkley, had died in his sleep. Her husband was out of town. Nearly in hysterics, not sure what to do, she called her veterinarian, Rachel Boltz, DVM. Dr. Boltz didn’t hesitate. She left her Los Altos, Calif., office and drove straight to Lotti’s house, where she hugged Lotti, then carried Barkley to her car and went to the clinic to make final arrangements. “I will remain grateful for this extension of compassion throughout my lifetime,” Lotti wrote in an essay about Boltz, adding: “If you are looking for an absolute star in the veterinary field, you need to look no farther. This woman is amazing.” The experts judging the second annual “Thank Your Vet for a Healthy Pet” contest agreed. Boltz, 37, was named the national winner of the contest, sponsored by the Morris Animal Foundation, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Veterinary Practice News, Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy magazines. She will receive the award this month during the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas. The contest honors America’s veterinarians for their skill, dedication and commitment to ensuring that pets are healthier, happier and living longer lives. To …
Problem Solver: Sophia Yin, DVMOctober 28, 2009Update: On September 28, 2014, Dr. Yin passed away. Read more here. Soon after Sophia Yin, DVM, graduated from veterinary school in 1993 and started in private practice in California, she realized that many of the animals she saw didn’t have health problems. They had behavioral problems. She saw cats that urinated on the couch instead of in their litter boxes, dogs that snapped while seemingly unprovoked or that barked at nothing, and animals of all types that were nervous, aggressive or just scared. The owners needed guidance on how to help their pets fit into the family and live happier lives, but a 20-minute appointment at the vet’s office didn’t provide enough time. And though her training at the University of California, Davis, had given Dr. Yin confidence in medical matters, it didn’t give her much insight into why an animal acted the way it did. So she set about teaching herself. Yin went back to UC Davis and earned a master’s in animal science with an emphasis on animal behavior—from chickens to wolves to horses to garden-variety cats and dogs. Along the way, she forged a new career path as a writer, speaker, peer educator and consultant …
Capital Asset: Lee W. Morgan, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Mary Lynn Reed and Scott Sonntag have been clients of Lee W. Morgan, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, almost from the day he took over the Washington, D.C., veterinary clinic they frequented. When one of their golden retrievers, Beau, was dying, Dr. Morgan insisted on going to the house so the dog wouldn’t have to endure the pain of traveling for treatment. He was there when Beau died. Last summer, when another golden, Connor, had minor surgery that turned complicated, Morgan took him home for overnight monitoring. In fact, Reed says, Morgan slept on the couch next to the dog for several nights, which she learned only because Morgan’s 7-year-old son spilled it to her after the fact. “Dr. Morgan would have never told us that,” Reed says. “But it was so revealing about the way he is. ... Even though he’s in this big capital city, he runs a small, very personal office, like a country vet.” Reed’s husband, Sonntag, agrees: “He treats you like you’re family.” Georgetown Veterinary Hospital has been in business since the late 1940s. Morgan bought the practice in 2002. Such above-and-beyond feats have become the hallmark …
Exotics Expert: Marla Lichtenberger, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Marla Lichtenberger was 22 and had never been on an airplane when her parents dropped her off at the Milwaukee airport as she headed for veterinary school half a world away. This was in the late ’70s, when female veterinarians were less common. A few years earlier, a high school counselor had flatly told her to pick another career, something more suitable “for a girl.” Her home state of Wisconsin had no school of veterinary medicine at the time, and she had not been one of the few out-of-state students granted admission in neighboring Minnesota. At the suggestion of an Indian-born veterinarian she had worked for, Lichtenberger looked into veterinary schools in India. Soon, she was jetting to Punjab Agricultural University, where, after struggling with malaria and dysentery, strikes that idled classes for months at a time and a rabid water buffalo, she earned her DVM degree in 1985. “It was quite an adventure,” says Lichtenberger, Dipl. ACVECC. “But I would never give up this experience. It made me grow up very fast, and it gave me an incredible background.” For one thing it gave her early interest and experience in working with exotics, which, …
A New Perspective: Joel Pasco, DVMOctober 28, 2009Once he got over the shock that his cancer was terminal, Joel Pasco, DVM, realized that he had two choices. Dr. Joel Pasco with his five dogs at home. He could get depressed, feel sorry for himself and wait to die. Or he could stay positive and pack as much life as possible into each remaining day. To the California veterinarian, it was no contest. Told last year that he had as little as 12 months to live, Dr. Pasco, 62, decided to surround himself with family and friends. He would continue to pursue hobbies that brought him joy, like painting, sculpting, fishing and bonsai gardening. And, as long as he could, he would continue to practice veterinary medicine, the profession he’d loved for more than 30 years. Dr. Pasco with a tortoise patient. “People ask me, ‘Why are you working? You should be retired,’ ” Pasco says. “But my answer is, ‘I love what I do. I love my animal patients and I love my human clients, and my life would be very empty if I could not continue to do this.’ ” Life-Changing Moment The diagnosis came late last summer. A cancerous tumor …
