Our Club recently learned the Texas A&M Vet School has a “Veterinary Emergency Team (VET)” that had been deployed in our region since Oct. 4th to support search and rescue teams. The search and rescue teams have highly trained dogs that receive a daily health checkup after each shift, and can receive immediate veterinary care for wounds suffered in the field. Think of it like the old TV show M*A*S*H, but the patients are animals.
The VET crew has several advanced mobile clinics and support vehicles that have been deployed in Cherokee, Morganton, and Asheville since Helene. At the peak of search and rescue operations, they were caring for 80 highly trained dogs that are part of search and rescue teams from all over the country.
We learned of the team’s location, were able to make contact, and offer any assistance or comfort they may need. The team will be winding down their efforts, but they welcomed a hot lunch served by Aggies on Tuesday Oct 15th. For anyone not familiar with the VET team, it is incredible to learn just how significant this operation is and how well-equipped they are to support disaster responses nationwide. Below are some links to the program’s website, their Facebook page, and the biography of the Director, Dr. Debra Zoran.
Regarding the destruction that Dr. Zoran and her team have seen in our region, her words were very salient for those of us familiar with a disaster in Texas in 2015: “The devastation in Western North Carolina is like Wimberley on steroids”. We are thankful to have the experience, wisdom and support of the Aggie Veterinary Emergency Team standing side-by-side with first responders in our area. It is also inspiring to learn about the huge investment made by A&M to be the nation’s leader in disaster response veterinary care.
For more information, about VET:
Program web page: https://vetmed.tamu.edu/vet/
on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TAMUVET
Dr. Zoran’s profile: https://vetmed.tamu.edu/person/962/
Press release about VET in NC: https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/press-releases/vet-hurricane-helene/
