In many parts of the world, those far removed from daily veterinary services, people often cannot afford to provide routine care for their beloved pets. Sometimes they don't even know that their pets need routine care.
This is where The HSUS's Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) enters the picture. RAVS brings veterinary services to poor communities around the globe, whether in Bolivia or Bell County, Kentucky. Volunteer veterinary students work with several professional vets to provide not only essential services such as sterilizations and vaccinations, but also educational services such as talks on disease prevention and pet care.
Dr. Eric Davis, DVM, heads the RAVS program. Before joining The HSUS, Davis was veterinary director of Remote Area Medical (RAM) in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he founded the traveling veterinary services program in 1995. RAM was often supported by The HSUS and assisted by our regional offices. Davis has led teams into some of the neediest regions in the western hemisphere, including locations in Mexico, Guatemala, the Caribbean, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guyana, Guam, Palau, Pohnpei, Kosrae, not to mention countless rural communities and Native American reservations in the United States.
A typical RAVS site visit (or tour, for the longer trips abroad) will include 12–25 veterinary school volunteers and 3–5 veterinarians and technicians who together will conduct one or two clinics a day. By the time their multi-day tour is complete, volunteers and staff will have performed up to 300 vaccinations a day and 30–60 surgeries per clinic.
RAVS has benefited not only thousands of animals and their owners, but has also expanded the knowledge of veterinary school students who learn some important life lessons. "We are exposing future veterinarians to humane work. They need to know that it is right to come to the aid of animals in need," says Davis, the director of RAVS and a diplomate for both the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Because its work is never done, RAVS is continually looking for two things: more veterinary volunteers and more funds. If you're a vet student interested in volunteering, visit the RAVS schedule page. All others can support this important cause with a donation.
Donate to Rural Area Veterinary Services.
To learn more about RAVS, visit the Rural Area Veterinary Services web site.
