After many months of planning and preparation the Belize project is now underway. Susan and Dr Cathy were up at 3:30am to meet up for an early flight out of Spokane. It took many months to get all the paperwork finalized for the temporary licenses for all the veterinarians and to get the drug import permits approved. With new airline baggage restrictions and costs we had to be very conscientious of every item we place in our bags to be sure we brought everything we needed and nothing we didn’t. We managed to squeeze everything into 1 large suitcase and 3 [View Full Entry]

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This morning we got up at 6am to head for Loreto. We passed through the the military checkpoint with no trouble this morning. We didn't know where the clinic was located but we figured it was a small enough town that we would find it. After driving the wrong way down a couple one-way streets (they are not marked but the other drivers let you know) and stopping to ask for directions a couple times we had managed to get a good tour of the town but still not find the clinic. We stopped a third time for directions and the [View Full Entry]

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Today was our play and relaxation day and time to get to know each other. It seemed that everyone slept well last night. We only had to turn the AC in one room that was especially hot. We left the doors and windows open in the house and had a pretty nice breeze. We found a bat in Dr Mikes shoe this morning. It very well could have been rabid since it was about to die. It died later in the day. There were a few other critters in and around the house including a couple scorpions. Its pretty much to [View Full Entry]

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The group: Dr Cathy (trip leader) from Deer Park, Washington, Dr Mike a 2008 WSU grad who is soon heading off for an emergency medicine job in Portland, Dr Suzanne a veterinarian from Spokane, Dr Lori a veterinarian from Minneapolis, Erica and Lindsay both 3rd vet students from WSU, Liesl and Christine, both 3rd year veterinary students from Michigan State, Kaitlyn a Psychology student from New Hampshire, Angie a veterinary technican from Washington, Val, a veterinary drug rep from Washington DC and Denise, a librarian from Philadelphia. The World Vets volunteers came from all corners of [View Full Entry]

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Today was our last day in Utila. We had a 9AM flight scheduled out from the airport. We got word the night before that the flights don't always leave ontime. Whenever the plane gets there (early or late) it loads up and leaves. Fortunately we planned ahead. We only had one golf cart left (we had to return the others the night before) so we loaded up as much luggage as we could and Mike and Cathy headed to the airport to drop it off. Its about a 20 minute ride by golf cart ride one way. As they had warned [View Full Entry]

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Today was a day for fun in the sun! [View Full Entry]

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Today the World Vets team split up to work at 2 different locations on the island. Barb, Natalie and Daniel head out to the stables to trim feet on the horses. The rest went to set up the spay/neuter clinic and get ready for appointments. Dr Kathy Quigley and Dr Shaun Vaniman did surgeries while Lindy and Sandra K assisted in surgery. Leslie gave the premedication injections outside while Stacey drew blood to test the dogs for Ehrichiosis. Dr Cathy King saw appointments which included lots of skin problems, vaccinations, a puppy with distemper, a dog with an ulcer in its [View Full Entry]

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After a long day of flying from various locations around the U.S.,our team of 14 finally met up here in Utila, Honduras. It is a small island with only one very narrow road dotted with cantinas, dive shops and locals selling their . We have three veterinarians, one pre-vet student, a dog groomer, an anesthesiologist, a hair stylist, a hydro-geologist and phlebotomist just to name a few. We had a quick meeting to go over details of tomorrows whale shark project, then all piled on our "Honduran limo" ( there was a little problem and we don't get our other two [View Full Entry]

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Again we awoke to loud thunder but no rain...yet. We packed up all our gear and headed out in the boat again. This time we were headed for Portobelo. The car ride there was as bumpy as before but not so many of us were crammed in one car. This time our clinic was set up in a classroom provided by the catholic/red cross group. The room was quite nice. It even had lights and a tile floor. It ended up being the hottest day of the trip. We had a lot of work ahead of us for this day. The [View Full Entry]

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We woke up to thunder early on Sunday morning. It began raining while we were having some breakfast on Isla Grande. We met our boat back at the house ready to take us to La Guaria. We grabbed our personal belongings and all boarded the boat. Although relatively close, we could not see our destination because of the rain. The spaypanama group always has a great attitude, even in the pouring rain. By the halfway point, it was raining so hard it felt like hail. Susan had grabbed our roll of toilet paper as we ran out the door just in [View Full Entry]

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