World Vets Teams Prepare for Pacific Partnership 2010

Ten World Vets volunteers were recently selected to take part in what will likely be an experience they will never forget.  Next month, the USNS Mercy hospital ship will leave San Diego enroute to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific for Pacific Partnership 2010.  The ship will be home to the World Vets team of veterinarians, technicians and students while they provide veterinary aid to Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Timor Leste working under a team of US military command.   Pacific Partnership is an annual, 4-month long,  humanitarian aid mission carried out by the US military in collaboration with partner nations and NGOs to provide medical, dental, veterinary and engineering aid to different areas of the world.  Last years mission was the first for World Vets and included visits to Samoa, Tonga, Kirabati, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands.  One of the main goals of Pacific Partnership is to establish multi-national relationships between military and civilian organizations during a time of calm so that they are better able to respond during disasters such as pandeminc disease outbreaks, typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis.  World Vets is proud to be a part of this mission and is looking forward to contributing to the 2010 mission.

World Vets in Granada Nicaragua

World Vets sends a team to Granada Nicaragua a few times every year to provide spay/neuter teams to work at Casa Lupita.  Surgeries and medical consultations are provided free of charge to the community.  In a place where the majority of the population earns less than $2/day, it's financially out of reach to pay for such services for animals.  Nonetheless, its obvious that the people of Nicaragua love their pets very much and do what they can to take good care of them.   The huge turn-out at the clinic is evidence of that.   Our latest team led by Dr Jerry Brown of Yelm, Washington and Dr Tom Parker of Santa Fe, New Mexico brought together volunteers from all over the country (aging in range from 19-70+) for the common goal of helping animals in need.   Half of the team was veteran World Vets volunteers who met on  a previous trip to Honduras and signed up to do it all over again.  The rest of the team was hopefully on the first of many future trips to come.  Without our fantastic volunteers, these projects would not be possible.  Each person brings unique skills and experience that collectively form a well-oiled surgical team.   In addition to the regular small animal work, part of the team also did some horse work.   For more information, visit our website at http://www.worldvets.org/