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BERITA BAHASA INDONESIA
TOK PISIN
By Danielle Kutchel
ABC Gippsland
Topic:Veterinary Medicine
Mikayla McDonald and Dr Ben Smith operate in the remote outback. (Supplied: Stephanie Smith)
At plastic fold-out tables set up beneath the beating sun, a team of vets operates in the open air to give man's best friend a new lease on life.
They're multitasking — shooing the flies away from their patient while expertly conducting the procedure.
From vaccinations to amputations, this is life for these vets, at least for the next few days.
Lily Heath from West Gippsland Vet Care clips a dog. (Supplied: Stephanie Smith)
The team is from West Gippsland Vet Care in regional Victoria, and is part of the Vet Mob Indigenous Dog Health Program.
It's a not-for-profit, volunteer organisation that aims to improve the health of dogs in the Utopia and Central Desert regions of the Northern Territory by providing free veterinary services.
Originally founded by a Canberra-based vet clinic in 2010 alongside not-for-profit Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities, the vets identified parts of central Australia that didn't have any veterinary services available and got to work filling the gap.
Kept out of Australia for decades, a potentially deadly disease spread swiftly through ticks now has a foothold in urban Northern Territory.
The Canberra mob wanted to set up a program where they could return to the town regularly and build a relationship with locals, developing a reliable service.
West Gippsland Vet Care joined the program in 2016 and visits the remote community twice a year.
It recently took over management of the winter trip around August to September each year.
West Gippsland Vet Care practice manager and vet nurse Stephanie Smith said the team provided desexing services, which along with parasite control was a big part of the work.
"They have quite a big issue with mange, and the type of mange they have is transmissible to humans. There were problems with scabies in humans because they were getting it from dogs," Ms Smith said.
West Gippsland Vet Care staff help treat puppies. (Supplied: The Vet Mob)
Ticks are also a big problem in the bush and are often fatal to dogs.
Other general veterinary services are offered when required, like wound care, puppy vaccinations, medical treatment and amputations, depending on what equipment the vets have on hand.
A lot of equipment is kept in the community in a storage unit, ready to go, and the vets bring some drugs and equipment with them.
"But we certainly don't have our whole pharmacy," Ms Smith said.
"The contrast between what we do up there compared to what we do in the clinic is just quite extraordinary.
"In surgery here, it's like a hospital — gowned up, with all the machines. And then there, we're on a fold-out table out in the open … shooing the flies away."
Vets find creative ways for dogs to cool off. (Supplied: The Vet Mob)
Often, full medical care that includes follow-up treatment isn't possible in this environment.
"We have to just do what we can, and then hope for the best really," she said.
Ms Smith said remote residents eagerly awaited the vet visits.
Staff are sent up on a rotating roster, but Ms Smith said they were always keen to go.
Vets from Warragul in regional Victoria travel to the remote Northern Territory. (Supplied: The Vet Mob)
"Most people get a lot out of it, something you wouldn't see in your everyday life," she said.
"You're immersed in the Indigenous community — they're very remote. It's a very different environment."
The team averages around 100 procedures per trip, along with hundreds of parasite treatments.
Ms Smith said it was impossible to count how many dogs they had helped over the years, but the demand was strong.
After COVID lockdowns forced the cancellation of some visits, vets on the next trip completed 150 desexings in just seven days.
"Everyone comes back completely wiped out, but it's worth it," she said.
Staff from West Gippsland Vet Care and some of their Canberra-based colleagues, on-site in the Northern Territory. (Supplied: Stephanie Smith)
Ms Smith said the vets worked hard to build a relationship and establish trust with the community.
The routine and consistency of the visits has helped with that.
She hopes Vet Mob can continue for years to come, providing benefits for the community as well as giving more vets and nurses the chance to develop their skills in a different environment.
"As long as the communities keep allowing us to come, we'll keep doing it," she said.
Cameron Raw, a Palawa man, veterinarian and senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, has first-hand experience providing vet services in the remote Northern Territory.
He said the Vet Mob program provided a vital service in line with the "one health" mindset, which states that human, animal and environmental health are interconnected.
By treating the animals to rid them of parasites that can be transmitted to humans, environmental and human health can also be preserved, Dr Raw said.
Dr Cam Raw says animal, human and environmental health are interconnected. (Supplied: Dr Cam Raw)
"The one health way of thinking encourages us to think about everything holistically," he said.
"One health" has been a feature of Indigenous ways of thinking around the world for thousands of years, he said.
"I would encourage policymakers to think about the broader impacts that animal health programs can have, because it's not just about desexing dogs or treating dogs for parasites," Dr Raw said.
"There can be massive knock-on effects from sustainable, effective and most importantly, culturally competent animal health programs that aren't immediately apparent."
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