Today’s activity was a free community animal health clinic at Bullet Tree Village. Along with Dr. Tesecum and his team, we offered health check-ups, de-worming, spays, and neuters. The event was supposed to start from 9:00am; however, people were already coming in with their pets at as early as 8:00am. We divided into four groups: check-in, check-up, surgery, and recovery team. I was first assigned into the check-in team, so with two other students, I organized the patients by the order they came in. With people coming in and leaving, it became very busy; however, we managed to create a compiled list. In the check-up team, we took a general physical of the patient by recording the heart rate, respiratory rate, weight, and temperature. We also provided dewormer and vitamin B for them. Throughout this event, I was able to assist Dr. Tesecum with a dog’s neuter and a cat’s spay. I had the opportunity to watch the neuter and spay and suture the patients at the end. Since this was my first time suturing a live animal, I was very nervous. However, Dr. Tesecum and his team guided me in the process and provided me with moral support. After the surgery, we had to watch over the patient with the owners. Most likely due to the heat and lack of proper hydration, it took a while for many of the patients to wake up. In total, we checked more than 85 patients in total and did 26 surgeries! It was a memorable experience and definitely worth working in the hot room for 7 hours!
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