American Samoa Sterilization and Training

American Samoa Sterilization and Training Campaign Report
March 2012
Emma Clifford, Founder and Director
On March 18th 2012, ten Animal Balance volunteers (listed below) and Kelly
Coladarci, Program Manager for Companion Animals and Engagement of
The Humane Society International (HSI) flew to American Samoa in the
South Pacific to join forces with the Department of Agriculture, (DoA) The
American Samoa Humane Society (ASHS) The Animal Protection Institute
(API)and our wonderful hosts Mona and Nick King. Together we sterilized
360 cats and dogs in 5 days and even broke Animal Balance’s record by
sterilizing 102 animals in one day!
This campaign was generously funded by The ASPCA, The Summerlee
Foundation, The Edith Goode Trust and the Maltz Family Foundation. Our
deepest thanks goes to these key foundations who understood the need;
provided the funds for the medicines; and put their trust in Animal Balance
to bring everyone together to sterilize the cats and dogs of American Samoa
and help pave the way for the future.
Thank you to the American Samoa Power Association (ASPA) for providing
their ‘War Room’ to use as our clinic space; for allowing Karen Faanimo
Tuifalasai-Kitiona to work in registration, to the ASPA security division for
helping control the crowds and for also catching so many dogs on the
compound; ASPA IT Division for keeping us connected; to Freddie’s Beach
for donating such great accommodation; to Pacific Energy for donating the
gasoline; to all the wonderful restaurants who fed us; to the amazing local
volunteers who showed up and pitched in where ever they were needed
…and then came back the next day!
Special thanks to the Department of Agriculture, Melila Purcell, Director,
Peter Gurr, Acting Deputy Director and their team; Va’a, Junior, Annie, Ana,
Pearl, Paul, Apelu and Steve. Thank you all for being part of our team and
for staying with us every day until the last animal had woken up and gone
home.
To the American Samoa Humane Society, thank you all so much
for taking care of so many local logistics; our accommodation,
our lunches, our transport, organizing the clinic site, taking the
appointments and for all the things that no one knows happens
to ensure a smooth campaign.
It was a true honor for all of us to once again work on the island
of American Samoa. The Samoan people welcomed us so
warmly and their global reputation for being the most
hospitable people on the planet is so true. Thank you to
everyone for hosting us, it was an incredible experience.
American Samoa
This campaign took 1 ½ years to achieve. We were set to go in November of 2011, but had to postpone
due to circumstances beyond our control. American Samoa has its own unique challenges; as a territory
of the United States it often falls into a grey zone in regards to legislation. For months prior to the
campaign we worked with the US DEA to establish the process for transporting controlled drugs to the
territory. The only airline to fly into Pago Pago is Hawaiian Airlines and they do not grant any assistance
to NGO’s who are carrying in their own supplies. They keep to their checked luggage allowance of 50lbs.
As we carry in enough supplies to sterilize 400 animals, this is quite the challenge. Each volunteer
removed all the packaging and packed very few personal items in order to meet the airline’s
requirements. It takes a momentous effort to arrive with all of our supplies and make sure that we have
all the legal papers to transport the items to American Samoa. However, we arrived and so did all of our
boxes and customs allowed us all to enter.
Clinic Overview
We held the high volume spay and neuter clinic for the first 5 days. In that time Dr. Byron Maas and Dr.
Merriss Waters also trained the DoA Paravets. Dr. Ikumi Ishikawa from APS, Independent Samoa joined
us on day 4. She and Kelly (HSI) stayed on the following week to take care of any post operative issues,
conduct further training with the DoA Paravets and to also hold a number of wellness appointment.
Venue
Our clinic site at the ASPA was perfect as it had all mod-cons, even the internet. It was the most modern
clinic venue we have ever had. The ASHS and DoA each had a list of clients who desperately wanted
their animals sterilized. We had 3 drop off times during the day to avoid crowding; 8 am, 11 am and 2
pm. This system worked well; if someone could not catch their dog at home for example, we could call
the next person on the list and they would take their slot. The ASHS and DoA were very proficient at
calling all of their clients so that we could sterilize the maximum number of animals in the time that we
had.
There was a large waiting area outside which was covered. As we did not have many dog or cat crates,
people either waited all day for their animals, or we called them back to the clinic when their animal
went into the recovery station. ASPA kindly gave all the owners food and snacks while they waited.
The ASPA security guards checked people’s names off against the appointment list as they came into the
compound and if there were extra people there, they called and we did our best to accommodate them
during the week. The security guards also caught 8 of the 12 stray dogs on the compound and brought
them in for sterilization.
We held orientation and built the clinic on day one. We broke into stations; reception/release, prep,
surgery, cleaning station and recovery. Each station had a team leader. All the stations were in one
large room. The flow worked well like this as everyone could communicate with each other easily. We
opened at 7.30 am the next morning and worked straight through for 5 days, working 12 plus hours
each day. We had Sunday off and flew out that same evening.
All 360 animals were spayed or neutered and given internal and external parasite treatments. In
recovery the animals had their mats cut off, nails trimmed, ears cleaned, etc. we did all we could for
them while they were recovering from anesthesia.
Stations
Registration/Release
Karen from ASPA and Mona managed all the registrations, while Pearl did the health checks. Karen
speaks Samoan so we were very grateful that ASPA kindly allowed her to work with us all week long.
She typed up the amended appointments lists each night. She also gave the recovery instructions to the
guardians. This made the post-operative care for each patient much more thorough. She is kindly
translating the information into Samoan for the next campaign.
Mona managed the appointment sheet and worked closely with the recovery station so that each
animal was released as quickly as possible. This is often the most demanding of all the positions in the
clinic and requires someone with excellent organizational skills and plenty of patience. Mona has both
and did a brilliant job. Together, Mona and Karen kept the animal flow moving smoothly and kept the
guardians content and informed.
Prep
Rachel, Carolyn, Kelly (HSI) Pearl (DoA) and Junior from the K9 Customs Unit all worked together to give
anesthesia and prepare the animals for surgery. They worked flat out all day to keep up with the
appointments. Due to the limited number of cages, they had to make sure that they coordinated their
timing precisely with the surgery team. They also assisted the vets in surgery between preparing the
animals. They were fast moving and constantly monitoring the surgery suite to help where needed. As
the afternoon progressed, Carolyn moved over to the recovery station so she could check each animal
and give permission for each to be released.
Surgery
Dr. Byron is AB’s Medical Director and he organized his medical team and equipment efficiently. We had
3 surgery tables in use at all times, often with 4 vets working at once. We had 2 tables designated for
injectable anesthesia and one for gas anesthesia. Dr. Diane Scollard, an AB veterinarian had kindly
donated the mobile anesthetic unit in 2010. If a vet needed more time, then the mobile anesthetic
machine could be easily moved to that surgery table. It was a very efficient and safe system. The 2
Paravets; Junior and Pa’a worked alongside Dr. Merriss, Dr. Byron and Dr. Ikumi each day. Pearl, who is
also a Paravet, conducted all the health checks, gave anesthesia and prepared the animals for surgery.
She also found time to sterilize a number of cats!
Dr. Byron was able to continue to train the Paravets. He has visited the islands 4 times in the last 5 years
and each time he has worked with the Paravets, training them in different areas and improving their
standard of care. He has a solid working relationship with each of them. On this campaign he was able
to teach them further regarding, anatomy, suture technique, anesthetic machine use, sterile field,
aseptic technique; and improve their level of confidence overall when performing spays and neuters. He
also worked with them regarding safe animal handling techniques. The medical team did an excellent
job, barely even stopping for lunch.
Instrument Cleaning Station
Alice and Apelu (DoA) aka ‘Team Clean’ took care of the instruments
for the veterinarians using a cold sterile method. They had to keep
up with 4 vets and make sure that the technicians had clean tracheal
tubes etc. for prep, this was quite the task as we had limited surgery
packs and there was such a high number of animals passing though
the clinic. They did not stop as if they had, the MASH unit would
have come to a halt.
Recovery
Jill, Dr. Amy and her 2 students; Stephanie and Leigh, worked with Annie and Ann from the DoA and also
with the local volunteers, who came to help each afternoon. Dr. Amy oversaw the recovery area and
concentrated on the cats recovery, while the others focused on the dogs. Every day they had the
animals lined up in their small space, monitoring them closely and turning them. Their attention to
detail was second to none. They tracked every animal through the recovery station ensuring that each
received the parasite medications, had their ears cleaned and tails trimmed, along with of course plenty
of love and kindness as the animals woke up.
Week 2
Animal Balance donated over $2,800 of our spay and neuter supplies to the DoA so they could continue
to sterilize the animals. Kelly, Dr. Ikumi and the DoA team sterilized a further 15 animals in the second
week and used this as an opportunity to conduct training in spays, neuters and also in the treatment of
TVT (tumors) with the Paravets. The American Samoan dog population has a very high rate of TVT’s,
sterilizing the animals helps to reduce its spread; treating them with Vincristine reduces the tumors,
and/or cutting them out can, in some cases, cure the dog. Kelly also held a series of strategic planning
meetings with Government and with the ASHS in order to help establish long term goals and plans for
humane animal management on American Samoa as it relates to the South Pacific.
Summary
The entire team; from all the organizations, to all the volunteers, did an exemplary job. The animals
received excellent care and the volunteers treated each other with great respect and kindness. The fact
that we sterilized the most animals yet in one day (102) really proves that this team was the ‘ace team’
and that all the logistics that were completed in order to make the campaign happen were done with
extreme precision.
This was a hugely successful campaign and we thank the AB volunteers who made so many personal
sacrifices to attend; they paid for their own flights and food, took precious time off work and away from
their families to travel half way around the world to work very hard indeed for the animals and
communities of American Samoa.
Thank you to the AB team: Rachel Baird, Kelly Coladarci , Jill Ehring, Dr Amy Fisher, Dr. Byron Maas,
Leigh McDonald Alice Ng, , Stephanie Sullivan, Carolyn Usrey, and Dr. Merriss Waters. This was an
amazing adventure and we accomplished so much together. Thank you for being part of this team, for
your compassion, dedication and understanding of the critical importance of our work.