Emma Richards had the opportunity to go to Merida, Mexico in May to study at an American-based veterinary clinic called Planned Pethood. In her month there, she went through rotations of what she observed, shadowed, and helped with. The first week she was there, she shadowed the veterinary technicians, doing general care, and helping with small procedures, such as cleaning wounds/changing bandages and giving medication through IV injection. During the second and third weeks, she spent her time observing surgeries and was taught how to do pre- and post-surgical procedures. While there, Emma got to scrub into an orthopedic surgery, helped reform a femur head, and got to perform a spay on a cadaver. Her final week in Mexico was spent in appointment rooms with doctors. She had the opportunity to take pulse and breathing rates, gave intramuscular and subcutaneous injections, removed sutures, and took tons of notes. Some of the other things she got to do included helping run chemical tests and inserting IV catheters into patients.
This is such an amazing opportunity and just shows how far research can take you here at Roanoke!