It was another sunny day in Puerta Ayora when I sat down to interview Justin and Stella in a bustling local cafe. Both recently graduated veterinarians from Europe, the pair had left their home countries to travel and volunteer in South America throughout 2018, and were making a big impact on both the people and the animals that they volunteered with along the way.
I met them during their time as head vets at the Darwin Animal Doctor’s Clinic on Isla Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands. We volunteered together for 5 weeks, and as my time at the clinic drew to a close, they kindly agreed to share their experiences with me.
Kat: What was it that attracted you to working here on the Galapagos islands?
Justin: Well we wanted to go travelling. I always wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands, not to work but to see the wildlife that is here and then we saw this opportunity. And we just wanted to go for 6 months but [the team at DAD] said “we’re gonna give you a bigger role in the clinic”. And that was in the form of the head veterinarian. But eventually, now we’re here.
Stella: Yeah, we didn’t apply to be head vets, we just planned to travel and work. At first I wanted to start in Asia. So I was searching there and then my mother was like “Oh I found something in the Galapagos”. I said “What, show me!”
Justin: We made a list of countries and places that we want to visit. And the Galapagos was on the list. So it was the combination of places we wanted to go, and working where we were needed. The mission of the organisation was interesting, and it seemed like they really wanted us to come out here, that was one of the main things.
Stella: There were also some benefits- as vets we get free accommodation. We don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars a week. And also, we can do something to benefit the wildlife here, to protect them, not only for the owned animals here.
Justin: Plus this place is amazing.
Stella: It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Kat: Tell me a little about your background. Where did you study, and how much experience did you have when you came to the Galapagos?
Stella: I lived in Belgium. At first I studied and finished a 3-year language training [course] at KH Leuven, Spanish, German, French, English. In high school I studied languages and economics. Afterwards, I still was so convinced I wanted to become a veterinarian so together with my younger sister we started the 6-year long vet course.
Justin: I am from Holland. So I started vet school directly from High School, and we met at university in Ghent in our fourth, or fifth year or something?
Stella: Fourth! We didn’t know each other beforehand, because I studied the first 3 years in Antwerp, and then I went to Ghent. I wanted to do some volunteering abroad, and I found out that another guy from my school would be volunteering there. So I contacted him to be friendly, and then we just met each other there. And then we spent the whole time together, and we ended up getting a place for ourselves in our final year.
Justin: Then when we graduated, you worked in Ghent and I worked in Maastricht. So we were separate again for half a year, for experience and to saving money.
Kat: What was it like transitioning into work on the Galapagos? What were some of the challenges that you faced in your first few weeks of work here?
Justin: Well its a very different environment. But you grow into it. Its not that I found it very different in the work that I was doing [in Europe], there’s the charity factor I suppose. And also its a first line clinic with the possibility to do a bit more. There’s some medications that we would like to use that you can’t. We have a shortage of some of the important medications, so you have to think, is this animal really going to benefit from this drug, is it worth it? I guess that can be difficult
Stella: Yeah but also, there was the language. And then also, the place where we consult is outside, people will walk in with a backpack and you ask, ‘what’s in there?’ and they say ‘oh its my 2 cats here for a consultation’. So consultations outside, people lining up to see us, and people not having to pay. (NB: The clinic does ask for donations from the owners of the animals that are treated). Also the fact that diagnostics-wise, the clinic is pretty limited.
Justin: Yeah, I’ve really learned a lot even without an x-ray, like now with fractures I can really feel them, so I can diagnose them that way. And cryptorchids, you can’t just do an ultrasound, you have to feel through the canal or look in the abdomen to find the testicle. We cannot refer it to a specialist. There are no other specialist vets in the Galapagos Islands, so to refer an animal it would mean a three hour flight back to the mainland.
Stella: But at least now we are used to using the microscope more and to really rely more on clinical examinations which already gives you a ton of information! We also look at a lot of blood smears (much more than we were used to do at home), we do skin scrapes and examine them ourselves without sending them away. That’s also a difference.
Kat: I understand that you speak Spanish here with the clients. Have you faced any challenges with the language barrier?
Stella: I did 3 years of other languages before veterinary school, so I’ve already had a good base. But also, because you’re forced to speak Spanish here, because the owners don’t speak any other language, you learn it very quickly!
Justin: I think its an easy language to learn, and the people are understandable, they try to help you. You can use your hands and your whole body to communicate which really helps. And it looks a lot like English also- sometimes if you ‘spanish-ify’ English words you get in the right direction.
Stella: As long as you know most of the common words- ticks, fleas, diarrhoea, vomit, thats like 80% of what we talk about in Spanish. So just learn the main words and then its not so bad. And we ask people all the time, speak a little “despacio, despacio” (slowly).
Kat: Talk me through a typical day at the DAD clinic
Stella: In the morning, usually…
Justin: We open the gates [laughs]
Stella: Normally, we make appointments for the surgical cases, so people just come in at 7am and we are supposed to do surgeries. Some weeks we have 4-5 surgeries every day, and then there are quiet weeks too. It really depends week to week and on the patients too. Most of the time its sterilisations, and mostly female dogs I think.
Then at 11:30am we have siesta. And in the afternoon from 4-7:30pm its open consults. Its flea and ticks most of the time, or anorectic animals, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory problems, limping, skin issues. They are the most common things.
Then overnight there’s always someone on call. Most of the time, those are intoxications, or maybe hit-by-cars.
Kat: Thats true actually, all my night-time calls at DAD so far have been intoxications or hit-by-cars
Justin:- Yeah, that’s when people come, when they see something happening like that.
Stella: And then there’s the campaigns. Approximately once a month we travel to a new location and spend three to five days straight of sterilising- either here, or Isla Isabella, or San Cristobal. Our backs aren’t that happy with days like this. The tables we use are usually way too low. We try to aim for an average of 25 animals a day on average, depending on the amount of vets and students.
Kat: What are the most common medical issues you see here? Are there any conditions that are common here, but you would not see so much in your home country?
Stella: Hit by cars. The dogs don’t walk on leashes here. Lots of intoxication.
Justin: Ehrlichia, that’s the most common infectious disease here. And they don’t vaccinated so theres a lot of parvo.
Kat: Do you work with wildlife at DAD?
Stella: We don’t treat wildlife here.
Justin: But one of the vets before us operated on a sea lion that was hit by a boat. But sadly it didn’t survive. If wildlife are brought in, we have to call the national park vet and then they come to check it.
Kat: That’s really important to know as well, as some volunteers might presume its a wildlife hospital, but that’s not really it.
Justin: Yeah exactly, but its not the main thing. But if you see how many dogs there are here, they are the priority in the clinic. Our role is to sterilise the dogs and cats, and that helps the wildlife.
Kat: Are there any cultural challenges you face working with locals in the Galapagos that you may not have elsewhere? How do you manage these differences with clients?
Stella: Some people are late all the time, they say they’ll come at 11:30, then they show up at 12 when we’re closed. A lot of people will forget their appointments, and then try to come in hours later because they forgot.
Justin: The South American way as well, people can suddenly be very emotional about things.
Stella: Or they’ll wait till their dog is dangerously skinny then tell us it only stopped eating yesterday. But that’s a problem that vets worldwide face of course.
Kat: I’ve heard it said here that people tend to respect the wildlife more than they respect the domestic species. Do you think that’s true?
Justin: Yes, so 90% of the income here is through tourism, and that is because of the wildlife here. But a lot of wild species are facing extinction, partly due to overpopulation of cats and dogs. So we need to make people see that, so they bring their animals in to be sterilised.
We see some problems that could be solved if things were better organised, with stricter laws, especially neutering. And they’ve changed the rules since last year, the ordinance now says that every dog can have one litter, and then they are meant to get their dogs sterilised. Whereas we just want to sterilise every dog possible.
Stella: But if you explain to the people that their dog could die from a uterus infection, or mammary cancer, then they tend to accept that and bring their dog in for surgery. We really have to explain that it’s because we want to take care of the health of the dog.
Kat: I’ve definitely noticed that we do a lot more bitch spays than dog castrates here. I’ve never been to a place where its so one-sided on the sterilisations.
Justin: Yes, mostly female dogs. Often its not till they start bleeding from the vagina (suggesting they are in heat or have pyometra), owners suddenly realise there’s something wrong and they want surgery then. So its more difficult if they are in heat, but its better to do then that let the owner wait, as then they might be pregnant.
Kat: Do you have a favourite patient that you worked with here? What is his or her story?
Stella: Yeah, so Panda was a 12 week old puppy, very lethargic, pale white, not eating or drinking.
Justin: The haematocrit was 7 I think?
Stella: He really needed a blood transfusion! We ask owners to look themselves for big healthy dogs for blood transfusions. We have some people we can rely on in case we are not able to find a good donor. But we try to have the owners bring a dog in. So the owner found a relative of the puppy and we started really late at night, it was only our second ever blood transfusion- very slowly at first, then faster when there was no signs of reaction.
Then the next day, he was a bit better, but he had some oedema, probably too much fluids. Then day by day, he got better, he started eating. He followed me everywhere, around the clinic, to the toilet! And then after 4 days he was so much better. Slowly his mucosa became more and more pink. Then he visited us after a week, and he was so much better! And now when he comes in for check-ups, he just walks into the clinic like, ‘yeah, its my place’.
The owners were so happy. They brought us flowers, they brought us empanadas! And sometimes people bring us milk, pasta, and other things.
Kat: How did you perform a blood transfusion without any specialist equipment?
Stella: We had no special equipment at all! But it was all or nothing because this pup was literally dying. So we did some research and started with sedatives, infusion sets, syringes, heparin and a lot of focus!
Justin: If I had to choose a favourite patient, I would choose Oreo, the first cat we did a urethrostomy on, or a penis amputation! Not because of the operation, just because he’s a really such a sweet cat! He came in, it was apparently the 6th time that he had urinary obstruction, so we performed a perineal urethrostomy. And we kept him at our house while he recovered, he slept on our bed and everything.
Stella: And he peed on our clothes, which is a good thing [laughs]. But he was really unwell, his penis had necrosed when he came in, so again we didn’t really have a choice.
Justin: Yes, and it was the first time doing that operation for either of us, so it was with the textbook out, The Clinician’s Brief. And luckily, its been more than a month and he’s doing well. He was so much happier after the operation, we had him at home and he was jumping, and meowing, and climbing on the bed.
Kat: Does the clinic accept qualified vet nurses? What kind of roles do they perform?
Stella: Yes, we did have a vet nurse when we first came to the clinic. She took on a supportive role, it was really good.
Justin: She was really great, she helped us a lot.
Stella: And she was great at teaching [the volunteer vet students], she’d help them with catheters, monitoring anaesthesia. It was really wonderful to have her on a campaign. We’re always happy to have more vet nurses, because they’re just there to help care for the animals. So it was very nice to have her. She was from the UK.
Kat: I find that the vet nurses from the UK are really great, they’re so well trained
Stella: Yeah, the vet nurse from the UK really do know their stuff. And vet nurses in general are so helpful, they’re not complaining about having to do things like washing the instruments, keeping the clinic organised. And that’s part of working in the clinic, everyone has to chip in and help with this stuff, so it helps to have people with a good attitude.
Justin: Yes, half the job is keeping the clinic tidy and organised so we can treat the animals. Hygiene is very important!
Kat: Vets who work here take on a teaching role to the vet students who come on placements. Do you enjoy teaching? Do you find it easy to engage with the students?
Justin: Yes! We have students from different years, ages and countries.
Stella: I like it but it also depends on the attitude of the students. If they don’t make a fuss about washing instruments and helping with the ‘dirtier’ jobs, I have a lot more patience for teaching them and I’m more prepared to put more time in giving them a great experience. Whereas Justin has patience for everyone [laughs].
But it is really good for the students because we let them go out to do the consults themselves, then they come in and we discuss the case together, and explain why we want to give the specific treatment. Its nice because they can ask questions and learn something, instead of just watching.
I also feel that volunteers get a lot more out of this placement the longer they stay- if they’re here for just a few weeks, they spend lots of time getting to know the clinic. But then when they stay longer, they take on a much bigger role, and they get to see many more interesting cases. Plus if you stay for 6 weeks, its enough time to explore the islands fully, and not be too rushed.
Kat: What is it like to live on the Galapagos islands? What are your favourite things about life here?
Justin: Snorkelling! I really like the sea.
Stella: The weather, if its not too hot. The long siesta. The icecreams, you can just go out, walk 10 minutes, go to the beach, be out in nature. I could live here, up in the highlands of this island.
Justin: The lifestyle in general is very relaxing.
Stella: Yeah, everything is slow, everyone takes their time. Its not the rush like we’re used to like in Belgium. There’s no 15 minute appointments here to rush through patients. Its not so much pressure. And I really like the long siesta, you can go home and sleep, or go to the beach. And you can organise a day off when you like.
Kat: Would you recommend working at DAD to other veterinarians or vet nurses? Why or why not?
Stella: No! [all laugh]
Justin: Definitely. The work is really hard at times, but you get to live in this beautiful place. As long as you get along with the people who work here, I think you’ll have a very pleasant stay. Its a nice place to stay and learn a lot- not only veterinary stuff, but other cultures, and learning Spanish as well.
Stella: Also you learn how to run a veterinary practice without the fancy equipment. Overall, we’re here helping animals. And you can see the difference you make. Money isn’t really a problem, with people who can’t afford certain procedures or surgeries. You can just do what needs to be done as far as treatment options go here. And we do so much here! That’s nice not to think of money as a factor.
Kat: Final question: How many rectal exams have you done this week?
Justin: Zero I think
Stella: Zero!
Further Information
If you’d like to learn more about the Darwin Animal Doctor’s Clinic in the Galapagos Islands, follow through to their website or read my profile of the organisation.
You can keep up with Justin and Stella’s latest adventures on the 2 Vets 1 Dream Facebook Page and Instagram.
Ever wondered what life would be like as a veterinarian in Dubai, Finland or Sri Lanka? Check out more Global Vet Interviews
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