Courtesy of: Sara-Dawn

Hey, my name is Sara-Dawn Langille (better known as Sara-Dawn from River John) and I got an amazing opportunity to work with the staff at the Truro Veterinary Hospital on March 20, 2014.  I got to do this because I won a contest on Facebook called “Truro Vet Behind the Scenes” and it is one of the best contests I have ever entered.  Having this experience has confirmed that I do want to work in clinics with animals and I now realize what it takes to operate a clinic.

When I first came into the clinic I was told that Dr. Gwen was already going into surgery and I could go in and watch; I put on a scrub hat and mask and went into the surgery room.  Dr. Gwen was performing a neuter on a Jack Russell.  At first I was scared I would become ill from watching the surgery but it was really cool to watch. The best part was when Dr. Gwen finished, shut off the gas and the dog woke up.  A Vet Assistant named Brea showed me how to wake up a dog after they had been through surgery and we woke him up no problem.

The next surgery for the day was a tooth extraction on a wiener dog, but before that surgery could start I helped Carmen the Vet Technician clean and polish the dog’s teeth.  After the preparation Dr. Gwen came back and we took out a broken tooth.  It had three roots and was a very large tooth.

After the two surgeries were done I got to hang out with Ashley and Brea the two Vet Assistants and they told me what their duties were and about their job at Truro Vet.  For the rest of the day we had clients coming in for appointments and I learned a lot from this too. Before I went into any appointments I helped Brea clean and wrap the instruments that were used in the surgeries.  If I were to become a Vet Assistant or Tech these would be very important things to learn.

Dr. Michelle came in to start the appointments and I got to go into the first appointment with a Vet Tech named Charity to do preliminary questions.  Throughout the day I did visits with clients with Dr. Michelle and I got to meet tons of animals and their owners who were helped by Dr. Michelle and the team at the clinic.

At the end of my shift the Truro Vet gave me a bag of goodies for myself and my cat Oodie which she is enjoying to the full extent.  I had an awesome day and I am so glad I got this chance!  I know for sure I want to work in the Veterinary field because I love animals and I want to make a difference. Thank you Truro Vet!!