Surgery Clinic Underway in Nicaragua

The World Vets Nicaragua team is winding down after a long, hot day of surgeries and cosultations. Since this was the first sterilization clinic that has ever been done in the barrios of San Juan Del Sur, there was much curiosity and some apprehension from the locals as we expected. As the day went on, more and more dogs showed up. The nice thing with the pace being a little slow on the first day was that all of the students (vet students, pre-vet students and one pre-med) got to glove up and do surgery. All of the veterinarians thoroughly enjoyed the teaching aspect of the project today and I think the students were all thrilled to do, for most of them, their very first surgery. We also had a Nicaraguan veterinarian and vet student (Fernando and Lester) helping out in surgery and learning from the group. The day finished up with a taxi screeching down the dirt road to the clinic with a dog that had been run over by a surfing truck. We were able to stabilize the stray dog and determine that he had a broken pelvis. We will re-evaluate his condition in the morning and determine his course of treatment. All in all it was a great day. After work we headed back to the Casa and made our way up the hill in our 4wd shuttle truck. It takes two trips to get everyone to the top of the road but fortunately we have Jose (the guard), a pet monkey and trees full of Howler monkeys to keep us entertained at the bottom. Tomorrow we are head out early for another day of surgeries.