Join the Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program team!

OPS Clerical Assistant

Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida is looking for an administrative assistant to provide clerical and office support in the Educational and Curriculum program areas. If you are interested in working with an upbeat team and love animals, apply today!

Work hours are Monday-Friday 10-4 and will be flexible for the best incumbent. Pay is $10/hour. Position is time-limited with the possibility for continued employment after the initial phase.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provide administrative support, ensuring that database records are recorded accurately and maintained in an organized manner.
• Update past student records and input new student records.
• Contact with students on an as-needed basis.
• Contact organizations on a regular basis through phone and/or email contact.
• Assist with meetings, conferences, and special events as needed.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Intermediate knowledge of MS Excel, MS Access DB, and MS Outlook is preferred.

Minimum requirements:

• Valid Florida driver’s license
• Microsoft Office experience: especially knowledge of MS Excel, MS Access DB, and MS Outlook.

Preferred qualifications:

• Effective interpersonal skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to prioritize work assignments and meet multiple deadlines
• Ability to file and organize records
• Ability to work independently
• Strong Microsoft WORD and EXCEL skills

To Apply

Send resumé and letter of interest to: sheltermedicine@vetmed.ufl.edu with the subject line “OPS Clerical.”

As I help load dogs into a truck destined for the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, I can hardly believe that a month has passed since I left Florida for Asia.  During my time in Bangkok, I have grown quite fond of each of the dogs that have called the Thai Watana Panich (TWP) shelter home since November.  I am emotional, to say the least, to watch these amazing animals leave the shelter as they make their way on their journey towards finding their forever homes.

During my stay at the shelter, I have been involved with the daily care (cleaning and feeding), medical treatments, and sterilization of the 200 dogs on-site. I assure you that this was no easy task!  Daily activities in the shelter included medicating upwards of 50 dogs per day, providing chemotherapeutic drugs for transmissible venereal tumors, implementing infectious disease control protocols to keep animals healthy, and assuring that all dogs were current on vaccines.  Towards the end of my stay, the shelter began sending animals to a new dog sanctuary being constructed in northern Thailand at the Elephant Nature Park and to a local shelter run by the organization Soi Cats and Dogs (SCAD) where they will be placed in an adoption program.  Recently the temporary shelter has since closed and all of the bamboo and tarps hauled away that once made up the facility’s structure.

One dog in particular touched me and will be hard to soon forget.  This lovely dog, given the appropriate name of ‘Sickie’, was a Thai street dog that had a near brush with death at the shelter.

Given the presumptive diagnosis of a blood parasitic disease, Sickie became acutely anemic (decreased red blood cells) and began exhibiting signs of severe respiratory distress.  Her gums were pale white and she was unable to rise.  The veterinary staff consisting of two amazing vet nurses and myself quickly rushed to Sickie’s aid and provided her with much needed intravenous fluids and appropriate medications.  Within days Sickie was back to her normal self lounging in the hot Bangkok sun or following staff around, begging for treats.

During my time in Asia I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to tour several wildlife sanctuaries including the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand located in the town of Cha-am and the Chu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center in Chu Chi, Vietnam.  I was able to observe and learn of innovative and practical enrichment and facility design ideas that I can use when consulting with shelters in the US.

While my travels have come to an end, I still can’t help but think about all of the amazing animals and people that I had the opportunity to work with.   While I hope that they benefited from my presence at the shelter, they truly will never know what I learned and gained from them!

Dr. Katherine

Katherine Polak, DVM, MPH

Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Resident, First-Year

Recent Blog Entries

Adventures in Shelter Medicine: Leaving Thailand

Feb 14th, 2012

Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Katherine Polak's last blog post from Thailand, where she provided assistance to an emergency shelter to help dogs affected by this year's severe flooding.

Adventures in Shelter Medicine: “Midnight” Rescue

Jan 4th, 2012

Senior Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Cate McManus blogs about her adventures with the UF VETS team in rescuing a horse named Midnight.

Adventures in Shelter Medicine, Thailand Edition

Dec 16th, 2011

Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Katherine Polak is blogging from Thailand, where she's providing assistance to an emergency shelter that's helping dogs affected by this year's severe flooding.

February 1, 2012, Alameda, CA.  Maddie’s Fund^®, the family foundation of David and Cheryl Duffield, announced plans for a multimillion-dollar next generation animal care and teaching facility to be located in the Hacienda Business Park in Pleasanton, California.

The planned 90,000 square foot “Maddie’s Center^SM“ will include a pet adoption facility, conference center, teaching institute and rehabilitation wing. Maddie’s Center will pioneer new advances and train future animal welfare leaders in shelter medicine, nutrition, housing and technology adapted for animal care.

“Our focus will be on the hard-to-place dogs and cats and our model will be collaborative,” said Maddie’s Fund President, Rich Avanzino. “Maddie’s Center will be a testing ground for new marketing methods, protocols and remedies to make it easier and less costly to treat and place homeless pets who are sick, injured or poorly behaved. We’ll share what we learn with our neighbors and the entire animal welfare movement to help advance and sustain the nation’s no-kill achievements.”

The Pleasanton facility was of particular interest to Maddie’s Fund given the Duffields’ long standing relationship with the city, initially with PeopleSoft and more recently with Workday. “The Duffields are excited to have Maddie’s Center in a facility that is easily available to friends and family dedicated to this special cause,” said Avanzino. Avanzino added that he “wanted to express his gratitude to the hard work of the city staff and owners of the Hacienda Business Park in obtaining the required approvals for the new facility.”

Maddie’s Center is expected to open its doors at 4280 Hacienda Drive in 2014.

About Maddie’s Fund^®

Maddie’s Fund^® is a family foundation which is funded by the founder of Workday and PeopleSoft, Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl. Maddie’s Fund is helping to create a no-kill nation where all healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats are guaranteed a loving home. To achieve this goal, Maddie’s Fund is investing its resources in building community collaborations where animal welfare organizations come together to develop successful models of lifesaving; in veterinary colleges to help shelter medicine become part of the veterinary curriculum to train veterinarians to save the lives of sick and injured dogs and cats in animal shelters; and in the implementation of a national effort to promote accountability and transparency in animal shelter operations. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.

Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Program is underwritten by a grant from Maddie’s Fund^®, the Pet Rescue Foundation, helping to fund the creation of a no-kill nation.

“High-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) programs are efficient surgical initiatives that meet or exceed veterinary medical standards of care in providing accessible, targeted sterilization of large numbers of dogs and cats in order to reduce their overpopulation and subsequent euthanasia.”          

–Veterinary Task Force to Advance High-Quality, High-Volume Spay/Neuter, 2008

Thanks to a generous donor, Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Program has ten $1,000 stipends available to support students who desire to hone their skills in this critically important area of practice.

We are currently accepting stipend applications from students who will complete two-week externships at either the Humane Alliance clinic in Asheville, North Carolina, or the First Coast No More Homeless Pets clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Externships must be competed between May and December, 2012.

To apply, contact sheltermedicine@vetmed.ufl.edu for information.  Application deadline is March 5, 2012.

The on-demand version of Maddie’s Institutes’s live webcast on “Shelter Crowd Control: Keeping Community Cats Out of Shelters” with Dr. Julie Levy is now available on the Maddie’s Fund^® website.

RACE CE credit is available to those who view the entire presentation on demand and complete a quiz afterward.

About the Presentation:

“We had almost 800 people in attendance, which is amazing, particularly for a presentation on cats in shelters. Dr. Levy was incredible in her thoroughness and her engagement with the material she was presenting, and our audience responded by submitting hundreds of questions. Dr. Levy answered as many as she could after the webcast, and is reviewing those she didn’t get to — we’ll be posting her responses on our site in the future.

All of us who care about the issue of community cats should be encouraged not just by the numbers of people who attended, but also by the responses to our poll, and the shift in thinking they reveal. We’re really on the brink of a revolution in how we think and talk about the issue of community cats.

Only 12.9 percent report that TNR is not happening in their communities, with 51.6 percent saying that some cats are being reached by TNR programs, and 30.5 percent say TNR is a major component of lifesaving in their community.

More than 95 percent of those who took the survey said they are in favor of the “Feral Freedom” program, where feral cats are immediately transferred to a TNR program and are not taken into the shelter. Less than 5 percent expressed reservations about the program, or said they hadn’t made up their minds yet.”

-Laurie Peek

Shelter Crowd Control: Keeping Community Cats Out of Shelters is part of an ongoing series of educational programs from Maddie’s Institute, a program of Maddie’s Fund^®, the nation’s leading funder of shelter medicine education. Maddie’s Institute brings cutting edge shelter medicine information from universities and animal welfare leaders to shelter veterinarians, managers and staff as well as private practice veterinarians, rescue groups and community members to increase the lifesaving of homeless dogs and cats community-wide.

If you have questions, please contact us at institute@maddiesfund.org.

Maddie’s Institute is pleased to be able to offer CE credit to veterinary professionals. In order to qualify for CE credit we ask that individuals attend and participate in the entire program. CE is also available for on-demand presentations, which have additional requirements.

This program was reviewed and approved by the AAVSB RACE program for 1 hour of continuing education in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE approval. Please contact the AAVSB RACE program if you have any comments/concerns regarding this program’s validity or relevancy to the veterinary profession.

This course has been pre-approved for Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits.

On a crisp Florida winter day, I thought the highlight of my afternoon would be getting to touch a manatee… but I was wrong!

We had just finished kayaking in the Crystal River when UF Vet Med college director John Haven’s cell phone rang.  The caller was Perry Koon from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, and he was asking Mr. Haven for assistance.  Apparently, an owned horse was stuck up to his chest in the mud in Payne’s Prairie, a state preserve south of Gainesville. Mr. Haven said that we would be on our way, and we were.  In an hour and a half, we were at the scene.

The horse, Midnight, was wet and exhausted from struggling to escape the mud for four long hours. Unfortunately, every time he had struggled he went further into trouble. His owners were exhausted as well, yet hopeful when they heard that the best people in the state were there to help.

On meeting up with Dr. Roger Clemmons and the UF Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service (VETS) large animal extraction equipment he brought, we assessed the situation. Since I practice shelter medicine and Dr. Clemmons is a neurologist (and not infrequent “wiener dog back surgeon”), I decided to call an equine veterinarian for assistance.  Fortunately, my fellow US Army reservist Dr. Randy Emmons, owner of Twin Oaks Equine, and his son Ryan were available to come out and evaluate the horse.  The rescue team was complete.

When we had arrived, Midnight was a few feet into the bog. Fortunately, he was on his side and not completely stuck in the mud.  After Midnight was sedated to calm his worried nerves, the team secured him with ropes, dug out his one leg that was still stuck in the mud and rolled him onto a transport sled.  Mr. Haven’s amazing system of pulleys enabled just two men to pull the full-grown horse along a plywood pathway out of the bog.

As soon as Midnight hit dry ground, Dr. Emmons administered some IV fluids and pain medications to him.  As we discussed reversing his sedation, Midnight decided to get up on his own!  After all of that, it was a great sight to see Midnight walk soundly and follow his owner to their trailer.

This rescue was such an amazing interagency effort between the University of Florida VETS Team, The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office of Rural Services, the Florida Park Service and Dr. Emmons.  I cannot imagine what would have happened to dear Midnight if these people and resources were not available. I’m proud to be a member of the UF VETS Team and I cannot wait to work with these people again – in a training capacity of course!

Dr. Cate McManus, VMD, MPH, DACVPM

Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Resident, Third-Year

Recent Blog Entries

Adventures in Shelter Medicine: Leaving Thailand

Feb 14th, 2012

Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Katherine Polak's last blog post from Thailand, where she provided assistance to an emergency shelter to help dogs affected by this year's severe flooding.

Adventures in Shelter Medicine: “Midnight” Rescue

Jan 4th, 2012

Senior Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Cate McManus blogs about her adventures with the UF VETS team in rescuing a horse named Midnight.

Adventures in Shelter Medicine, Thailand Edition

Dec 16th, 2011

Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Katherine Polak is blogging from Thailand, where she's providing assistance to an emergency shelter that's helping dogs affected by this year's severe flooding.

Mr. Big Guy, one of over 600 cats rescued from an overcrowded Florida facility, suffered from a painful eye condition which required surgery.

When a case of animal hoarding is uncovered in a community, the animals rely on veterinarians, animal welfare workers, and law enforcement to be there… not only to intervene for their health and well-being, but also to use sound science and medicine to document a solid legal case.

Register now for “Recognizing and Responding to Animal Hoarding”

Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Program and the ASPCA are pleased to invite you to a full two-day conference focusing on this increasingly important issue.  International experts will explore the ins and outs of hoarding: from the psychology of hoarders to large-scale response; medical triage and common health and behavior issues you’ll find in hoarded animals; and community issues from media relations to hoarding prevention and response strategies.

Will you be ready when they need you?

On the conference’s second day, prepare to apply your training in a unique series of hands-on exercises: a simulated animal hoarding crime scene and two labs for examination of both live and deceased victims.  You’ll come away with the skills and confidence to respond effectively when a hoarding case comes your way.

Act today to ensure yourself a seat at this phenomenal conference and take advantage of our lowest registration rate.  We expect this year’s conference to sell out, so register now!

See the full agenda.

Thanks to our conference sponsors!

CE CREDIT: Both Veterinarians and Certified Veterinary Technicians can receive CE credit for 16 Contact Hours or 1.6 CEU’s.  The conference is also pre-approved for CAWA CE credit.  For more information, please visit the conference website.

Greetings from Thailand!

Several days ago I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand to assist with the sheltering of animals affected by severe flooding that has ravaged Bangkok since October.  Several organizations including SCAD Bangkok, Elephant Nature Foundation, and Kinship Circle have been working together to care for dogs rescued from the floods.  The shelter I am working at is known as the TWP Shelter which is located in a remote area in Bangkok on excess factory land that was donated by the Thai Watana Panich Press Co, LTD.  This shelter was erected in early November and originally housed around 200 dogs.

My first days in Bangkok were certainly busy to say the least.  My days begin around 7am as I meet the rest of my medical team in our guesthouse and walk 10 minutes down a very bustling street in Bangkok.  From there we take the BTS Skytrain, Bangkok’s mass transit system, to a meeting point where we meet the shelter manager.  When we have more than 4 of us, several members of the team pile in the back of the pickup truck and drive 45 minutes to the shelter.

On my first day, I attempted to familiarize myself with the overall shelter layout and protocols. There are approximately 120 dogs on site with about 30 at off-site veterinary clinics.

 Many of the animals on-site were in need of medical attention due to aliments including severe mange, suspect blood-borne parasites, transmissible venereal tumors, wounds, and fractures.

Infectious disease control is a major problem for the shelter.  The shelter is constructed entirely out of bamboo and tarps and has no running water or drainage.  The dogs easily squeeze through or dig under the bamboo leading to the escape of many dogs throughout the day.  Puppies are also able to leap from pen to pen.  Many free-roaming dogs are also permanent residents of the property, many of whom frequently attempt to walk into treatment and isolation areas.

Other important aspects of the shelter that I am attempting to address are major deficiencies in cleaning and disinfection, nutrition (as the dog’s dinners consist mostly of rice), record keeping, and medical treatment protocols.

In two days I completed physical examinations on almost all of the dogs on-site, determined appropriate treatments to the best of my ability without appropriate diagnostics, attempted to create a quarantine and isolation areas, and instituted daily medical rounds.  However, much of my first day was spent trying to inventory and determine what medications we had on hand because a significant percentage of them were written entirely in Thai!

Well I think that about sums it up for now.  Will check in later!

Best Regards,
Dr. Katherine

Katherine Polak, DVM, MPH

Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Resident, First-Year

Recent Blog Entries

Adventures in Shelter Medicine: Leaving Thailand

Feb 14th, 2012

Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Katherine Polak's last blog post from Thailand, where she provided assistance to an emergency shelter to help dogs affected by this year's severe flooding.

Adventures in Shelter Medicine: “Midnight” Rescue

Jan 4th, 2012

Senior Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Cate McManus blogs about her adventures with the UF VETS team in rescuing a horse named Midnight.

Adventures in Shelter Medicine, Thailand Edition

Dec 16th, 2011

Shelter Medicine Resident Dr. Katherine Polak is blogging from Thailand, where she's providing assistance to an emergency shelter that's helping dogs affected by this year's severe flooding.

Greetings!

Just wanted to send y’all a quick update.  Today I arrived in Bangkok after some flight difficulties out of Sri Lanka.  Thought I would go ahead and sum up my activities in Sri Lanka.

During my time spent in Sri Lanka, I worked with the organization Blue Paw Trust, an organization sponsored by the WSPA [World Society for the Protection of Animals] that is committed to reducing the number of stray dogs in the capital city of Colombo and lessening the incidence of rabies in the community.  I worked closely with Dr. Ganga de Silva, the External Liaison Manager for BPT.  On Monday we went into the field with a team of 4 trappers and assistant to rabies vaccinate Sri Lankan street dogs.  This consisted of driving through the streets of Colombo with two vehicles, one with the ‘netters’ and another with the veterinarian and myself searching particular wards of Colombo looking for stray dogs.  Once one was identified, all participants would jump out of their vans and chase the dog down the street with their nets, which very quickly became exhausting in the heat.  These chases typically led us into alleys and the local’s backyards. Many times we were successful at capturing the dogs and other times not so much.  Once a dog was netted it was vaccinated and spray painted to identify it as being vaccinated.  We successfully vaccinated 32 dogs that day.  BPT’s goal is to vaccinate 80% of the dog population in every ward of the city which is quite the task.  Since 2007, BPT has vaccinated over 5000 dogs.

On Tuesday, I visited a mobile spay/neuter clinic located at a nearby Buddhist temple in the outskirts of Colombo run by BPT.  The clinic consisted of a mobile van with two surgical tables and tent used for surgery prep and recovery.  4 trappers would go out into the community and net female dogs that would be sterilized that day.  Anesthesia was strictly injectable and equipment was basic (razors vs clippers) but the surgeons were fairly successful at maintaining sterility and proficiency despite the field conditions.  It was personally a great review on how to perform surgery in those conditions as I anticipate such skills will come in handy while working in the shelter in Bangkok.  After the clinic we headed back to BPT’s office for lunch.  There I was taught the art of eating rice with only one’s fingers which is customary in Sri Lanka.  Later in the day, I delivered a presentation on community cat management to several veterinarians and staff members.  There was significant interest by several attendees and a quality discussion was had following the lecture.

Later in the evening I accompanied several BPT staff members in an underserved community in Colombo for a rabies prevention talk titled Bouwwa’s Secrets. Bouwwa is the name given to community dogs in Sri Lanka and ‘their ‘secrets’ consist of activities one should and should not do when seeing a bouwwa on the street.  For instance, children were instructed to, ‘never touch a bouwwa when it is eating.’ While I was unable to understand a word of the presentation as it was delivered in the local language of Sinhalese, the audience appeared to be very engaged.  The night was ended with a cup of tea served at a staff member’s home down the street.

Today I arrived in Thailand and hope to meet a few of the shelter workers tonight from the organization SCAD Bangkok, whom I’ll be assisting while on the ground here.  Also looking forward to sleeping tonight as I was up at 3am to arrive at the airport this morning and with the time change I have little concept of night vs day!!

Will keep you posted!!

Dr. Katherine

Katherine Polak, DVM, MPH

Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Resident, First-Year