First Name : Denise Surname : Hong What is the most memorable or unusual case to come through the hospital while you were on shift? : Indy the 9month old FS Kelpie who survived a 1080 intoxication! Rocked up to my morning shift and gave her a cuddle whilst we were having hand over and did her vitals too. 30 mins later we all heard trashing in her cage and she was just basically entering severe hyperexcitability and it was from a 0 to a 100 real quick. Thankfully we managed to induce her into another GA and repeated a gastric lavage and enema that we did the evening before again. Thankfully Indy had a full recovery and was discharged back to her family. She’s a lucky dog – the only 1080 case I ever did see survive haha. Talk about the most thrilling case you’ve ever worked on, and why it meant so much to you. : (I cant remember this as clearly but Penny does because THANK GOD she was with me on shift haha) It was a dog that presented initially for a dog fight / wound suture up over her right cranial scapula area that seemed straight forward enough. However on presentation, the patient seemed to have breathing difficulties and the wound too painful for us to examine conscious. Thoracic radiographs were performed and there was some evidence of a pneumothorax which was quite strange and unexpected – things just kept getting stranger and stranger. Proceeded to anaesthetize dog as planned for wound exploration and low and behold we realised that it was actually a stick FB that had impaled through the thorax. Dog ended up requiring a full on thoracotomy etc and recovered well thankfully :) What would you say to someone aspiring to work at PVE? : Go for it! As much as it is loving the patients that we care for and being there for out clients in their vulnerability, it is also a lot about the heart of the team and a sense of family that is hard to cultivate and irreplaceable. Work culture is important and I think PVE’s got it down pat x What drew you to helping animals? : I think it’s the perspective that it is a privilege to be able to be present and help the bond / relationship between animal and human; pet and pet owner. It is a privilege to be able to provide care for someone else’s animal. It is a privilege to be able to let someone say goodbye to their animal in a respectable way. It is a privilege to be able to be there for people who care for their animals enough to seek help. It is a privilege to be able to represent animal welfare when they can’t represent or speak for themselves. It’s about being able to bridge that gap to the best of my abilities – and if being a vet allows me to do that then great! haha How did you end up working in emergency medicine? : A blessing in disguise when I was doing a rotating internship with PVS where I had to rotate for 3 months each between the emergency, surgery and anaesthesia rotation. I was dreading emergency the most because it was the first rotation I was thrown into but thankfully I was very blessed to find the nature of emergency medicine quite fun and rewarding. Tell us about why you like working for PVE, and how you think we offer the best care for our patients. : I like working for PVE mostly due to the people. It’s a community where we look out for each other and extend the same empathy to our patients to each other – and that’s a hard thing to achieve when you’re stuck in a small space for long hours in a very demanding and stressful environment. I think best care for patients clinically is easy to achieve – having a tailored treatment plan with the right medications etc etc. But it’s the small things like taking time to cuddle our patients (both vets and nurses alike do this) when we can, and comforting them even when we may not have time to. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on a shift? : My finger got proper eaten by a chicken’s butt. Penny can testify it was truly terrifying for me but funny for everyone else :( Is there an activity or somewhere local you love taking your pet/s? If so tell us about it. : (just have Gin my kitty at home so no haha sorry) What do you do for fun outside of work? : I love spending some time doing some art – be it painting (pots for our patients / deceased or not), some pottery. But also fitness is a big thing – hiking, gymming and some yoga too :)