• DVM360_Conference_Charlotte,NC_banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Conference Coverage
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Disaster Preparedness for the Veterinary Community

September 8, 2016
VMD Staff

Anne McCann, national emergency programs coordinator at the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Care, explains the veterinary community's role in caring for animals in case of a national disaster.

Advertisement

Anne McCann, national emergency programs coordinator at the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Care, explains the veterinary community's role in caring for animals in case of a national disaster.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“[For] communities to be resilient, [they] really need the whole community to engage and be a part of the disaster response. The veterinary community plays a key role in ensuring that animals are taken care of in a disaster. It’s not just individual pet owners or animal owners taking care of their own animals and individual vet practices taking care of the practice, but it really is [the question of] how do we come together as animal responders and build a community response? How do we partner with emergency management in our communities to have a plan and to do the necessary preparation so that when the disaster happens, we’re all part of the team that comes together in a coordinated way to address the animal issues in the community?

Veterinarians and veterinary technicians play a key role in animal rescue, in animal sheltering, and in the medical care of animals that are affected by disasters. If a tornado happens, for example, there’s a lot of trauma that happens to the animals in the community. Individual veterinary practices may also be affected by that disaster and may not be operational, so what we’re really encouraging the veterinary community to do is, through their Veterinary Medical Association come together as a team [and] work with local emergency managers; if within their community there’s a veterinary medical response team or a veterinary medical response core, however it’s labeled, or if there’s a state or county animal response team, to join in with those efforts to provide a coordinated response to meet the community needs.

One of the key things after disaster is to do an assessment and figure out what the effects of the disaster are on the animal population in that community; veterinarians play a key role in doing that, and also in providing information about what [the effects are] on the veterinary infrastructure in the community. Is there veterinary capability after the disaster that can help individual clients with their animal needs, or do we have to bring in other veterinarians? If a building is standing but the people can’t come because they’re affected by the disaster, your workers can’t come, then are there partnerships in sharing that we can identify so that we can bring in relief vets or relief techs to help you continue to operate because your building is still standing? [This], versus your building isn’t standing and you can’t operate but you have staff that maybe are available and want to help. Doing all of the coordination ahead of time to bring the community together in planning for this helps to make, once the response happen[s], things go more smoothly. Planning happens in the middle of the disaster but it’s really abbreviated planning and it’s not as effective as if we all come together ahead of time. I know it’s really hard to take the time to do that, but if we can come together ahead of time, identify the structures in the community through local emergency management, where you can plug in and help to be part of the solution, [then] that’s really critical to community resiliency.”

Related Content:

Expert Interviews
Tips and tricks for diagnosing canine osteoarthritis early
Tips and tricks for diagnosing canine osteoarthritis early
Performing surgery on dogs with GDV
Performing surgery on dogs with GDV
How to discuss finances with clients
How to discuss finances with clients

Advertisement

Latest News

3 Must-reads from Fetch Charlotte 2023

A practical approach to a fever of unknown origin

Bridge Club aims to bring groomers and veterinarians together

ABVS approves full recognition for shelter medicine practice

View More Latest News
Advertisement