The Purdue Veterinary Alumni Association (PVAA) Board of Directors has approved financial support for three new initiatives that will help Purdue Veterinary Medicine students and recruitment efforts in the upcoming academic year. The board made the budget decisions during a meeting held virtually on June 9. In preparing its 2020-2021 fiscal-year budget, the board sought input from Dr. Jim Weisman (PU DVM ’97), assistant dean for student affairs, and Dr. Sandy San Miguel (PU DVM ’93; PhD ’95), associate dean for engagement.
The board allocated $3,000 to support 4th year DVM students by helping to cover the cost of additional personal protective equipment (PPE) that the students will need to meet heightened safety measures being put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The added PPE supplies will provide protection for the students while they work in the Veterinary Hospital and gain valuable hands-on experiences during their clinical year.
The board also approved $3,000 for Boiler Vet Camp scholarships that will help underrepresented minority students who want to attend either the junior or senior camps. This allocation is aimed at supporting the college’s engagement activities that seek to broaden diversity in veterinary medicine. A sub-committee was established to determine the criteria for awarding the scholarships.
Additionally, the board allocated $2,000 of the PVAA budget to support a recently established food pantry located in Lynn Hall for the Purdue University community. In conjunction with Purdue’s ACE Campus Food Pantry and Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. of Lafayette, the pantry will be stocked with food for anyone in the PVM family facing food insecurity. This resource will help ensure that students have the nourishment they need to thrive academically as they cope with demanding schedules.
The remainder of the PVAA budget will be used to sponsor recurring events and student traditions such as the Stethoscope Dinner, Thanksgiving Celebration, and Graduation Gala.
The PVAA is a membership-based organization representing the entire PVM alumni base and functions as a subsidiary of the Purdue Alumni Association (PAA). All funding for the PVAA is generated through membership dues and seed money from the PAA. New graduates enjoy a year of free membership and then half-priced membership for two years. Membership in the PVAA is only $30 per calendar year.
The PVAA Board of Directors is made up of representatives from each of the Indiana Veterinary Medical Association regional districts, as well as Veterinary Nursing representatives from across Indiana. Other seats on the board include young alumni seats, as well as members-at-large from across the nation. The 24 member board is led by an executive committee made-up of Dr. John Feutz (PU DVM 2005), president; Dr. Erin Kosta-Wilson (PU DVM 2008), president-elect; and Dr. Jerry Rodenbarger (PU DVM ’79), secretary/treasurer. At the meeting, the board elected Dr. Angela Demaree (PU DVM 2002) as the incoming president-elect, whose term begins with the start of the new fiscal year July 1.
Independence Day goes hand in hand with celebration, good
food, and fireworks, but loud noises and explosions aren’t as fun for your pet
as they may be for you.
“Some dogs enjoy chasing the spinning objects and others are terrified of loud noises, so if they are included in the festivities, owners must use common sense to protect them,” said Dr. Lori Corriveau, wellness clinician in the Purdue Veterinary Hospital’s Small Animal Primary Care.
Here are some helpful tips that Dr. Corriveau recommends
implementing before you join the festivities:
Never leave pets alone outdoors (keep horses in
their stalls).
Remove all sharp objects from enclosures.
Keep indoor pets in a small, darkened room that
they are familiar with.
Play music or turn the TV on for distraction.
Reward calm behavior.
Exercise pets before fireworks start so they are
less anxious.
Do not take pets to fireworks shows or leave
them in cars unattended.
If pets must be outside, keep them on a leash or
in a carrier.
Protect animals from children who may be unaware
that sparklers and even “safe fireworks” may upset pets.
Make sure information on collars is updated and
leave IDs and harnesses on.
Sedate horses and dogs as needed (consult your
veterinarian).
Desensitize your pet by playing thunderstorm and
fireworks noises.
Clear your yard of harmful debris like spent
fireworks and barbeque trash.
Take a current photo of your pet so if your pet
gets loose, you will be able to share a current photo to aid in a rescue
search.
One low tech solution for combatting the booms of fireworks?
“The simplest way to combat your pet’s stress, if they’ll let you, is by
putting cotton loosely in their ears,” says Dr. Corriveau.
The Purdue Veterinary Conference will feature a new twist for 2020, as it will be offered in a virtual format, which will allow attendees to join in on conference sessions and activities from their own home or office. The conference will utilize an app, called “Whova,” to launch the event in a virtual format, showcasing our persistent pursuit of the next giant leap in veterinary medicine! Conference registration is now open.
Even though the format will be different, the conference still offers a full range of top quality continuing education with a variety of tracks, including: Equine, Exotics, One Health and Emergency Preparedness, Practice Management, Ruminant, Small Animal, Swine, and Veterinary Nursing. Registrants can earn up to 24 hours of continuing education (CE) by virtually attending the conference. As a bonus, all paid registrants will receive a coupon code to access up to five additional hours of CE through Purdue Veterinary Medicine’s online course catalog – which is a $200 value. If you crunch the numbers, that’s nearly 30 hours of CE for less than $300 for veterinarians and less than $175 for veterinary nurses. You can’t afford to miss this conference!
General education sessions will be conducted in a live, synchronous format. The conference sessions will count as in-person CE for licensing requirements, but they will be hosted virtually using our conference app. Attendees will be able to view the sessions, interact with speakers, visit exhibitor booths virtually, and network with other conference participants while using the app. Not only is Whova available on mobile devices, a desktop version will be available to view sessions from a laptop or desktop PC.
There’s no need to delay making plans to participate. Registration is open now for attendees and exhibitors. Click here for more information and to register.
This year’s conference would not be possible without the generosity of our sponsors: IDEXX, Banfield Pet Hospital, the Indiana Board of Animal Health/Indiana State Department of Health, Nutrena, Purina, Zoetis, Elanco, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, and Coyne Veterinary Services.
A string of strong performances by Purdue veterinary students in a national veterinary history essay contest continued this year with four entries being submitted, one of which placed second. Congratulations to Anna Adams, of the DVM Class of 2021, who won second prize in the Smithcors Veterinary History Essay Contest for her essay entitled, “For the Love of Bastet: A History of Cats in Ancient Egypt.” As a result, she has earned the publication of her essay in the Veterinary Heritage Journal and a scholarship.
Dr. Jessica Zeiger, a 2018 Purdue DVM graduate who serves as chairperson of the contest, said each of the four Purdue veterinary students who entered this year’s contest received strong praise from the judges. “Professor of Veterinary History David Williams has done an excellent job with the curriculum for his students,” Dr. Zeiger said. Last year, Dr. Brooke Fourthman, of the DVM Class of 2019, won fourth place in the competition, and the previous year, Dr. Zeiger, who was a fourth-year student at the time, won first place.
Established in 1991, the annual J. Fred Smithcors Student Veterinary History Essay Contest provides a unique opportunity for veterinary students to learn about the heritage of their new profession by researching and writing about a veterinary history topic of their choice. The contest is named in honor of the late J. Fred Smithcors, DVM, PhD, for his many contributions to veterinary history as founder of the American Veterinary Medical History Society (AVMHS), author of several books on veterinary history, educator, editor, and publisher. Winners of the top four entries receive cash prizes donated in memory of Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence, VMD, PhD, who served twice as AVMHS president and was a contest judge for many years.
Participation in the essay contest is open to all DVM students currently enrolled in veterinary colleges in the United States, Canada, and West Indies. Students remain eligible to submit one or more essays during each of their four years of study until graduation. Click here for more information about the essay contest.
The Purdue University Board of Trustees ratified four distinguished professors, including two in the College of Veterinary Medicine, at its board meeting June 11. The two PVM faculty are Dr. Ourania Andrisani, who was named a Distinguished Professor of Basic Medical Sciences, and Dr. Deborah Knapp, who was named a Distinguished Professor of Comparative Oncology. They are the first women faculty members in the college’s history to be named distinguished professors.
Dr. Andrisani came to Purdue in 1982 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences, before accepting a position as research associate at the Walther Cancer Institute in the Department of Biochemistry. She has been a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine since 2001.
Dr. Andrisani is an international expert on the molecular biology of the hepatitis B virus, a leading cause of liver disease including cirrhosis and highly malignant liver cancer. Her research has identified aspects of the mechanisms by which proteins expressed by the hepatitis B virus contribute to cell transformation and development of the hepatocellular carcinoma, or cancer that starts in the liver. She is highly respected by her peers in the scientific community, as evidenced by her leadership role in the International HBV Meeting on the Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Viruses. Dr. Andrisani also has served on National Institutes of Health study sections for nearly 20 years and has obtained major federal funding in support of her research. She has consistently published her research in high-impact journals. In addition, Dr. Andrisani has been generous with her time in mentoring postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. She also has participated in the campus scientific community with particularly long-standing service and contributions to the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research.
After earning her DVM degree at Auburn University, Dr. Knapp came to Purdue in 1985 and completed her residency and earned her master’s degree in 1988. Two years later she became board certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Oncology). In 2006 she was named the Dolores L. McCall Professor of Comparative Oncology. Dr. Knapp is regarded as the leading expert in the field of naturally occurring bladder cancer in dogs, and her research has established bladder cancer in dogs as the most relevant animal model for invasive bladder cancer in humans. Dr. Knapp is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles related to the subject.
At Purdue, Dr. Knapp has led comparative cancer research for over twenty years. Her research has focused on invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. In 2014, she received the AVMF/American Kennel Club Achievement Award in Canine Research at the Merial NIH Scholars Symposium. Additionally, Dr. Knapp has received numerous other awards for teaching and research, and in 2017 was inducted into the Purdue Research Foundation Innovator Hall of Fame. Dr. Knapp is director of the Purdue Comparative Oncology Program and a major contributor to the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research.
The college plans to honor both Dr. Andrisani and Dr. Knapp at a virtual college function for them and faculty who have received academic promotions July 15 at 3:00 p.m. More information about the event will be forthcoming.
The other two Purdue faculty members named as Distinguished Professors by the Trustees this month are Michael Campion, Distinguished Professor of Management, and Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies. Click here to view a complete news release about the Board of Trustees actions at its June 11 meeting.
A veterinarian who earned his PhD at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine and went on to become president of Montana State University, Dr. William “Bill” Tietz (PU PhD ’61), of Bozeman, Mont., died June 10. He was 93.
A native of Hinsdale, Ill., Dr. Tietz served six years in the US Navy, and then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from Swarthmore College in 1950, followed by a Master of Science degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin. He then spent time in the Arctic studying the metabolism of small mammals, and briefly worked at Baxter Laboratory in Illinois before earning his DVM degree at Colorado State University in 1957. He then came to Purdue where he earned his PhD in physiology and pathology in 1961.
Dr. Tietz joined the Purdue faculty and served as an assistant professor of veterinary physiology until 1964 when he left to become an associate professor of radiobiology and physiology at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He later was appointed chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and also served as the associate director of the CSU Agricultural Experiment Station before being named CSU’s vice president for student-university relations and then dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
His tenure at CSU provided valuable experience that prepared him for his next challenge, which came when he was named Montana State University’s ninth president in 1977, a position he held until 1990. Dr. Tietz is credited with bringing to the Bozeman campus a research-oriented vision, an abundance of intellectual and physical energy, the capacity to weigh and take risks, and both a determination to set new standards of teaching, research, and creativity, and the skills to institute them.
His accomplishments included acquiring funds for a greatly-enlarged sabbatical-leave program, which raised morale and attracted new talent; reviving and enlarging the undergraduate Honors Program; instituting a widely-imitated writing center; elevating the university’s libraries to national standards; putting in place a core curriculum; and establishing an advanced technology park to draw young entrepreneurs to the Gallatin Valley, engage students in real-world product development, and transfer technology to the university’s financial benefit. Dr. Tietz also believed and invested in diversity and inclusion at the university, increasing the recruitment and retention of under-represented students, the number of women in STEM related disciplines and the number of Native American students choosing to enroll at Montana State University. Upon his retirement, he developed endowed funds to create the President’s Native American Excellence Scholarship for Native American students who had been accepted into the Master of Arts program in Native American studies.
Dr. Tietz received Honorary Doctorate degrees from both Purdue University (1982) and Montana State University (2020). In 2007, Montana State University renamed its Animal Resources Center the William J. Tietz Hall in his honor. In retirement, Dr. Tietz continued to serve both the local community and the state of Montana. He also loved and spent much time with his family and continued annual trips to the Canadian wilderness well into his eighties. He also is remembered for his love of animals and model trains, as well as being an avid woodworker and always having pearls of wisdom to share.
Mary Jayne Downey, business manager in the Purdue Veterinary Hospital, and her daughter, Claire, model DIY face covering options with a dog print face mask made by Mary Jayne’s sister and a bandana fashioned into a face covering with hair ties.
The Purdue Veterinary Medicine family continues to show its grit and compassion for one another in a variety of ways during these uncertain times. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued safety guidelines on the use of cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of COVID-19, Dr. Ellen Lowery, Purdue Veterinary Hospital director, sent out a request to the PVM family seeking donations of cloth facemasks to use in the hospital. “These will not be a replacement for appropriate PPE or surgical masks. However, there is the recognition that in situations where physical distancing of six feet is not always possible, such as with patient care, the use of cloth masks helps protect individuals around the mask wearer,” said Dr. Lowery.
The hospital administration office strategically placed donation bins around Lynn Hall to accommodate in-house staff donations in addition to drop-off bins near the Small Animal Hospital and Large Animal Hospital parking areas to accommodate client donations. The hospital’s Infection Control Committee, chaired by Dr. Lynn Guptill, associate professor of small animal internal medicine, and Dana Altman, infection control specialist, also initiated a protocol by which all masks received would be funneled through Central Supply’s laundering service before being circulated to employees to use within the hospital. Hospital team members have the option to reuse a mask after cleaning it at home or they can return used masks to Central Supply for re-laundering. The timespan for the use of a reusable facemask is three hours, so there is a high need to maintain a sufficient supply. The response from the Purdue community following Dr. Lowery’s request has been overwhelming.
Local sewing organizations have been instrumental in replenishing the stock of facemasks. Organizations such as the Valparaiso Sewing Group of White County, Making Masks in White County, and the Greater West Lafayette Sewing Group, to name a few, have collectively contributed over 200 masks. Susie May, the mother of a graduate from the Class of 1996, has included a note of encouragement with each batch of 70 masks her group has donated. She wrote, “… with gratitude for my daughter’s excellent education. Thank you – stay safe.” Another client who remembered the excellent service both she and her beloved pet received years ago donated masks to the Oncology team.
Dr. Ellen Lowery’s mom lends a hand as she sews facemasks for hospital staff.
Emalese Adams, wife of Professor of Large Animal Surgery Steve Adams, has sewed and donated almost 90 unique homemade facemasks, including these Boilermaker themed masks.
Dr. Chris Fulkerson gives a thumbs up as he wears a mask gifted by a client of the Medical Oncology Service as a thank you for taking such good care of their patients.
Many others have donated materials as well to the staff-organized DIY facemask campaign. Purdue’s Department of Human Resources, in collaboration with Purdue Student Government, donated 300 bandanas to be used as facemasks. Friends of faculty and staff have given as well with donations coming in from all across the country.
In addition, the hospital received a donation of two dozen PPE gowns from Purdue University’s volunteer Boiler ‘Maker’ team. The effort is led by Nathan Hartman, Purdue’s Dauch Family Professor of Advanced Manufacturing and head of the Department of Computer Graphics Technology, who also is co-executive director of the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center, located at Purdue.
The gowns were made by a subgroup composed of faculty and staff from Purdue’s College of Health and Human Sciences and the Department of Theatre within Purdue’s Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance. Principally, Joan Goetz, a laboratory technician for the textile and apparel laboratories in the Division of Consumer Science, and Theatre staff members Anthony “Tony” Sirk, costume shop manager, and Vince Lobello, scenic construction supervisor, carried out the project, as part of an effort to produce soft goods for health care workers to wear.
Nathan Hartman, Purdue’s Dauch Family Professor of Advanced Manufacturing, practices social distancing while delivering a package of donated PPE gowns to the Purdue Veterinary Hospital, as Tami Lind, ICU technologist supervisor, shows how the Tyvek housing cover used to make the gowns can be worn as an effective medical PPE barrier.
The gowns were created from Tyvek, a synthetic, waterproof material that is very difficult to tear but can be easily cut with scissors. Volunteers helped cut the material and sew the gowns, which, along with caps and foot covers, account for the most requests received by the Maker volunteer group since they began their efforts April 27 and responded to requests from 20 organizations and counties in Indiana. Approximately 40 faculty and staff members have participated in the volunteer group. Click here to view a news release about the project.
“It is the displays of kindness from the community that gives our staff, faculty, interns, residents, technicians, and students the extra boost to keep going,” Dr. Lowery said. “The community’s support states loud and clear that we are not alone, and we are appreciated. Together we are going to get through this pandemic crisis.”
At last count, the hospital has received over 2,000 masks, and that does not include additional donations that were not deposited in the collection bin, but instead were mailed in anonymously. Dr. Lowery commented, “We are appreciative of our clients for entrusting the veterinary hospital to service their animals. We are thankful for the dedicated team of professionals who have braved the tumultuous onslaught of this pandemic virus to serve the Purdue Veterinary Hospital, and I am grateful to the community for sharing their support whether by giving donations or sending a note of thanks or encouragement.”
The rigor of the veterinary medical curriculum is legendary, and the heritage of face-to-face instruction in classrooms, laboratories, and clinics is cherished. So when COVID-19 reached pandemic status, and Purdue University had to make a sudden change from on-campus classes to online courses, in less than two weeks’ time, faculty and staff faced a more than daunting challenge.
Within the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, work began immediately to convert classes from in-person to remote learning. Dr. Jim Weisman, assistant dean for student affairs and clinical associate professor, said in the DVM curriculum a total of 37 courses were transitioned to virtual formats for students in years 1-3, along with 21 Veterinary Nursing courses, ten graduate student classes, and one pre-vet course.
“The transition of courses to online from their in-person presentation yielded a new set of opportunities for everyone – for the instructor as well as the student,” Dr. Weisman said. “The key for the instructor was to ensure we met the learning objectives for the course even while delivering the content remotely. For lecture courses this was easier to accomplish, but through the use of various media platforms, learning objectives for labs also were able to be met.” What was hardest? “The key was to ensure what was delivered remotely was engaging and allowed the students to actively participate,” Dr. Weisman said.
Dr. Stacy Tinkler, clinical associate professor of large animal internal medicine, leads a class session for VM 89000 using Zoom, a videoconferencing app.
The Veterinary Nursing Program had an advantage, according to Dr. Pete Bill, interim program director and professor emeritus of basic medical sciences, because of the Veterinary Nursing Distance Learning Program that was put in place some 20 years ago. “We already knew how to set up exams online. We also knew how to utilize remote proctoring of examinations,” Dr. Bill explained. “We knew how to talk students through some of the problems that typically arise from problems like poor connectivity or glitches during online examinations.”
Dr. Bill said the challenge for students involved how quickly things changed. “Students were ‘suddenly’ plunged into a different mode for learning. Because the students must be successful in these courses in order to progress further in the curriculum, the sudden change in modality introduces a different means by which the learning and subsequent testing are conducted,” Dr. Bill said. “Whereas the student has a pretty good idea of how to study and prep for exams in an on-campus setting (having practiced how to do so for years), in the online version the student has to determine ‘how the game is played’ in order to be successful. This creates anxiety. And without having a peer readily available to study with or compare notes on how best to master this new format, the student may be distracted from learning and revert more to just surviving the course.”
However, Dr. Bill said students did adapt. “Like any time something changes in a course that can upset the ‘rules’ by which the student has learned to succeed, there is anxiety until the student has some measure of success (such as passing a quiz or completing a homework assignment). Once success has been attained in some way, the anxiety lessens and the students settle in.”
Another challenge involved the change in learning environments as students moved back home to continue their classes remotely. “Students fail to realize how protected they are from many life pressures while on a campus…. and that once they are home, they may not have a peer support system to help sustain them, and in some cases people in the household are antagonistic to the time the student spends on academic learning,” Dr. Bill said. “While on campus, students are immersed in an environment with peers who roughly have the same priorities – getting an education. While at home, there may be no one who has that same goal and all of the demands and pressures from family or friends to do other things compete and serve to erode the self-discipline needed to be successful with a full load of classes.”
Faculty and staff did everything they could to set the students up for success. Dr. Bill noted that each course instructor adapted using different means, from Zoom meetings to BoilerCast presentations. He said 24 to 30 credit hours of on-campus classes were affected for veterinary nursing students in the three years of the professional program.
Students participate in online class discussions through video conferencing and group chats.
The transition also affected veterinary nursing students’ hospital rotations, which had to be truncated or terminated after spring break. “AVMA Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities accreditation mandates that all veterinary nursing students graduating from an accredited Vet Tech/Vet Nursing program will have performed 225-plus specific essential skills to a set level of competency, and that the program shall document acquisition of each of those skills,” Dr. Bill explained. “Students finishing their last semester before graduating needed to get their essential skills done in order to graduate in August. The few that didn’t complete all of their required skills will have to return to campus in late August to complete them to still be awarded their AAS degree in August.”
Clinical instruction for fourth-year students in the DVM program also was affected. “Blocks 16 and 17, which amounted to six weeks, of fourth-year clinics were transitioned to online rounds and case reviews,” explained Dr. Weisman. “Clinicians worked quickly to convert to online clinics. Students had both topic specific rounds, in which they discussed specific diseases, as well as rounds about the patients which were coming into the Purdue Veterinary Hospital. These rounds would total from two to four hours, or at times more, in a day.”
Dr. Weisman said the reaction to the courses’ online transition was very student dependent, but some enjoyed the ability to watch lectures at their pace and be able to go back and re-listen to ensure they got the point. As for the students’ success in adapting, Dr. Weisman said, “Most did very well, but we did hear from students that they missed the community. For some there were issues of adapting to a self-driven schedule but most quickly adapted and appreciated the independence.”
Drs. Brooke and Brent Unruh, of the DVM Class of 2020, were among the students who had to finish their final year of veterinary school virtually instead of in the clinics. They said it was helpful that they were able to start doing online learning at the beginning of a new rotation, rather than in the middle of one. “It was definitely different than what we had become accustomed to with our in-clinic learning and schedule,” Brooke noted. But Brent said the transition to online learning from in-person clinics went smoothly, despite the short time the clinicians had to develop a plan to provide the students with useful virtual rounds.
Brent’s last block was Small Animal Orthopedic Surgery. “On those surgery blocks, you would typically get to see the patient before surgery, watch the surgery, and then provide the post-operative care. Nothing can replace that experience,” Brent said. “However, the rounds provided by the clinicians gave a good overview of what was being done with the in-patients and why those decisions were being made.” Brooke added, “It was also challenging to learn a new routine for participating with online rounds and completion of different assignments, as some of those things were difficult without the in-person aspect.”
Evan Carter-Taylor, of the DVM Class of 2021, shares a problem list during a case study discussion in VM 89000.
Both Brooke and Brent expressed appreciation for all the work the clinicians did and their openness in communicating with students. “I think the biggest key to my success with moving to online learning for my last two rotations was the effort that my senior clinicians put into helping us accomplish the most we could through this type of learning, as well as their understanding that no one knew what this was going to look like,” Brooked explained. “It helped that they were willing to work through the challenges of moving our learning to an online format.” Brent added, “The biggest key to success with online learning was the open line of communication with our clinicians and being able to talk with them about what was working with virtual learning and what we thought might work better. The clinicians’ openness to these ideas and conversations played a large role in the success of the transition to virtual learning.”
Overall, Purdue University moved 5,000 courses online by March 23, which was the Monday after spring break, when students began attending class virtually. That was just 13 days after President Mitch Daniels asked the faculty to make the conversion.
“The idea of transitioning a residential campus experience for nearly 45,000 students to remote learning in a semester or even a year seems an audacious, almost unreachable goal,” Purdue Provost Jay Ackridge said in a message to the Purdue community. “But to make that happen in two weeks?! No matter the enormity of the task, our faculty, staff, and graduate student TAs quickly developed innovative approaches to remote learning… For many of you, much of that work happened during spring break, and the sacrifices you made are deeply appreciated. With your efforts, and support of the Innovative Learning team, ITaP (Information Technology at Purdue), and the Center for Instructional Excellence, an academic miracle was made possible.”
Amy Butcher, RVT, ICU/ECC technician in the Purdue Veterinary Hospital, checks on Nala, a patient in the Small Animal Hospital. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)
Even while adapting to the day-to-day challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting the health of animals – and the people that take care of them – across the Hoosier state continues to be a priority for Purdue University’s Veterinary Hospital.
“Animals play such an important role in our lives,” said Dr. Ellen Lowery, director of the Veterinary Hospital. “Our focus from the beginning of this situation was to continue providing exceptional client care and protecting the animals they care for.”
Currently, the hospital is accepting emergency and urgent cases, as well as preventive and elective procedures as supplies of personal protective equipment and hospital staffing supports. Dr. Lowery emphasized that staffing and supplies are carefully monitored and scheduling adjustments made to ensure appropriate patient care.
The hospital is continuing to restrict access to its small and large animal hospital reception areas and provides car-side drop-off and pick-up to help protect both animal owners and hospital staff. When a client arrives for an appointment at either hospital, they are instructed to call the appropriate reception area to let hospital staff know that they are in the parking lot. A staff member will then come outside to meet them and receive the patient. The client will be updated through text messaging, phone calls, or email as the animal is being treated.
“We understand that this is an extremely stressful time for the client and the patient,” Dr. Lowery said. “We work closely with the client to reassure them that their animal is in the best possible care, and we keep them informed during the entire process.”
Dr. Suma Rao, head of the Small Animal Primary Care service, examines a dog in the Small Animal Hospital with the assistance of Saralyn Sharp, RVT, VTS (CP-SA, Canine/Feline), small animal primary care technologist. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)
Dr. Lowery anticipates that processes will continue to evolve along with Governor Holcomb’s Back on Track plan for Indiana. Social distancing, the use of face masks, and other sanitation measures will continue to be a critical component of health protection for clients and the hospital team. “We’re working closely with the state to do our part to continue flattening the curve as we work through this pandemic together,” Dr. Lowery said.
A video and up-to-date guidelines are available on the hospital’s website.
“Whether it’s a pet or the farm animal population, animals are so important to the overall health of our world,” Dr. Lowery said. “We want to be able to provide that necessary and, at times, critical care. I’m thankful for every person who is coming here to work to make sure that the hospital stays functional and that we can do what we are called to do, which is take the best possible care of our clients and their animals.”
At a point in time where a global pandemic is threatening human health and an extraordinary public awakening about systemic racism is fueling societal unrest in the U.S. and across the world, it feels a little tone deaf to be discussing animal welfare. Nonetheless, fueled in part by public discussions of the food chain breaking as COVID-19 infections caused temporary U.S. packing plant closures and necessitated mass euthanasia of farm animals in some instances, animal welfare remains a high priority for many people.
Read the full article by Dr. Candace Croney at feedstuffs.com
